Federal HAI Prevention Funding Up for 2010

The Health and Human Services Agency spent $34 million in 2010 for 22 projects addressing research gaps and accelerating the adoption of evidence-based approaches for healthcare associated infection prevention, the agency says.

The amount is more than double what the agency spent on such projects between 2007 and 2009, which totaled $27 million.

The grants awarded through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, fund infection prevention opportunities in:

• Long-term care facilities,
• Pediatric clinics and hospitals,
• Emergency departments,
• Ambulatory surgery centers

The agency gives special attention to infections in ambulatory surgery centers, where an increasing number of patients undergo invasive procedures.  The number of such centers has grown, from 385 in 1985 to 5,047 in 2007.