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Notice to Readers: Publication of Guidance on Public Reporting
of Healthcare-Associated Infections
In U.S. hospitals alone, health-care--associated infections (HAIs) account for an estimated 2 million infections, 88,000 deaths, and $4.5 billion dollars in excess health-care costs
annually (1). Increasingly, consumers are requesting public release
of information such as HAI rates to enable them to make more informed health-care choices. Several states have
initiated legislative efforts that will mandate hospitals and other health-care organizations to publicly report HAI rates.
The Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) has developed a guidance document on
public reporting of HAIs to assist policymakers, program planners, consumer advocacy organizations, and others who will be
tasked with designing and implementing such reporting systems. The document,
Guidance on Public Reporting of Healthcare-Associated Infections: Recommendations of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee, provides a framework for an HAI reporting system and recommendations for process and outcome measures to be included in the system; the document does not provide model legislation
(2). These recommendations have been endorsed by the Association
for Professionals in Infection Control and
Epidemiology, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, and the Society
for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.
McKibben L, Horan T, Tokars JI, et al. Guidance on public reporting of healthcare-associated infections: recommendations of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee. Am J Infect Control 2005;33:217--26.
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Department of Health and Human Services. CDC is not responsible for the content
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