Healthcare-Associated Infections

What's New

Healthcare-Associated Infections Funding Opportunity

ASTHO will fund one additional state or territorial health agencies $25,000 each to participate in the healthcare-association infections (HAI) capacity building project. Grantees will build capacity and enhance HAI programs by evaluating and/or identifying policies in one of three focus areas: ensuring timely health department access to EHR data during outbreak investigations or for validation requirements; identifying policies, practices, or activities that promote antimicrobial stewardship; and identifying policies that promote inter-facility communication of HAIs. More information about the project and how to apply is available in the RFP and the FAQs document (proposals due June 19).

About

As a significant cause of death, healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are a critical challenge to public health in the United States. At any given time, about 1 in 20 patients have an infection while receiving care in U.S. hospitals. These infections result in up to $33 billion in excess medical costs every year.

ASTHO is working with HHS, CDC, and the Keystone Center to determine the role of state health officials in decreasing and preventing HAIs, specifically addressing priorities, challenges, and solutions at the state and regional level. In March 2011, ASTHO and CDC jointly released the HAI policy toolkit - Eliminating Healthcare-Associated Infections: State Policy Options. The companion report, Policies for Eliminating Healthcare-Associated Infections: Lessons from State Stakeholder Engagement was released in January 2012. ASTHO also maintains situational awareness on HAI-related policies and initiatives, shares this information with members, and represents the state health agency perspective.

ASTHO Resources

Policy Backgrounder - HAI Prevention and Policy Implementation

Toolkit - Eliminating Healthcare-Associated Infections: State Policy Options

Companion Report - Policies for Eliminating Healthcare-Associated Infections: Lessons from State Stakeholder Engagement

We value your opinion! Provide feedback on the toolkit and report.

CDC Report: Menu of Selected Provisions in HAI Laws

Effective State Policy Interventions for the Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections

HAI Legislation Tracking

HAI Legislative Tracking

Real-time state legislative tracking on select issues is available on our website. HAI legislation is available under the Infectious Disease profile.

HAI Legislative Summary 2012

This chart lists state legislation introduced in the 2012 session. Two states passed HAI legislation, NH (HAI reporting requirements and fees) and UT (HAI data sharing). (Updated August 2, 2012.)

HAI Legislative Trends 2011

Five states passed HAI legislation, four bills (AR, HI, ME, NC) dealing with reporting information to NHSN and making that data available to the health department, and one (NV) requiring facilities to provide infection information to patients. HI and NC added requirements for public reporting; ME states public reporting rule to be adopted by the Health Data Organization; AR had previous public reporting language. (Updated August 11, 2011.)

State HAI Reporting Laws

This chart provides a summary of states that have passed HAI reporting laws. (Updated December 22, 2008.)