By Healthcare Facilities Today

Recently five health care leaders spoke at a hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee on U.S. efforts to reduce healthcare-associated infections.

Becker's Hospital Review  summarized the leader's statements.

• Patrick Conway, MD, CMO and director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality and acting director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, summarized some of the work CMS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HHS and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality are doing to reduce infections.

• Beth Bell, MD, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at CDC, shared the CDC's efforts in reducing infections, including its collection of HAI data through the National Healthcare Safety Network.

• Ciaran Staunton, co-founder of The Rory Staunton Foundation, called on Congress to create educational resources for healthcare providers, parents and patients to raise awareness of sepsis and help identify and treat the infection early. 

• Jonathan B. Perlin, MD, PhD, president of clinical and physician services and CMO of Nashville, Tenn.-based Hospital Corp. of America, shared the results of the Reduce MRSA study, in which 13 hospitals reduced MRSA rates 37 percent in 18 months through universal decolonization. 

• Joe Kiani, founder of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation, recommended transparent reporting, incentives, interoperability, safe harbors and patient advocates.

Read the article.