HHS announces new targets for reducing HAIs

Editor's Note

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in October announced new targets for reducing healthcare associated infections (HAIs) in acute care hospitals.

The new targets are part of the agency’s "National Action Plan to Prevent Health Care-Associated Infections: Road Map to Elimination."

The targets use data from CY 2015 as a baseline, and they replace previous targets that expired in 2013.

The measures will track national population-based harm from HAIs, and by CY 2020 they aim to reduce:

• central line-associated bloodstream infections by 50%
• catheter-associated urinary tract infections by 25%
• invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) by 50%
• facility-onset MRSA by 50%
• Clostridium difficile infections by 30%
• Clostridium difficile hospitalizations by 30%
• surgical site infections by 30%.

The Surgical Care Improvement Project processes are no longer part of the Action Plan because they are now accepted as standards of practice.

Learn about the National Action Plan to eliminate health care-associated infections. Read reports, targets, and measures of HAI prevention efforts.