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GAO recommends steps to address HAIs

Infection Control Monitor, April 18, 2008

With the CDC estimating that healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are one of the top 10 causes of death in the United States, a government watchdog agency this week called upon the secretary of Health and Human Services to take further action to prevent these infections.

In order to help reduce HAIs in hospitals, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended the following two steps in its report “Healthcare-Associated Infections in Hospitals: Leadership Needed from HHS to Prioritize Prevention Practices and Improve Data on These Infections”:

• Identify priorities among the CDC’s recommended infection control practices and determine how to promote their implementation, including whether to incorporate selected practices into the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) conditions of participation (CoP) for hospitals.
• Establish greater consistency and compatibility of the data collected across HHS agencies on HAIs to increase available information, including reliable estimates of the major types of HAIs.

In response to the report, CMS said it will work with the CDC to review and prioritize its infection control recommendations and will consider whether to incorporate some of those recommendations into the CoP regulations.

To read the report, click here.

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