Health care-associated infections (HAIs) are infections people get while receiving care for another condition. HAIs are a significant cause of illness and death, affecting about 1 in 25 Americans who receive hospital care. To address the problem of HAIs, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the National Action Plan to Prevent Health Care-Associated Infections: Road Map to Elimination (HAI Action Plan) in 2009.
In October 2016, HHS announced new targets for the national acute care hospital metrics outlined in the HAI Action Plan. To expand on this announcement, ODPHP, PFCC partners, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) hosted a webinar on March 24, 2017.
We’re pleased to invite you to watch a recording of the webinar to learn more about HAIs and how to prevent them. The webinar includes:
- A patient perspective on HAIs and their consequences
- An in-depth look at the new acute care hospital targets and measures
- Updates on HAI Action Plan data sources
- Information on how federal health agencies are working together to improve patient safety in acute care hospitals
Subject matter experts also responded to questions from participants during the webinar. Check out those questions and answers to learn more about HAI data collection, changes to surveillance practices, and more.
We hope you enjoy these new resources!