CDC Protects Employees from Infections, Lowers Costs
Every day, one out of 20 hospitalized patients has an infection caused by medical care. Healthcare-associated infections are costly to businesses and are potentially lethal to employees. In fact, healthcare-associated infections create an economic burden of as much as $45 billion for citizens and businesses each year, even though 70 percent of some infections are preventable. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) play a vital role in helping businesses safeguard their workforces from infections, offering innovative solutions and resources to help save lives and lower healthcare costs.
Business Pulse: Safe Healthcare, Protecting Patients, Lowering Costs helps business leaders get the facts on what is at stake—and what CDC is doing to help the U.S. healthcare system keep pace with emerging infection threats and new infection prevention strategies. To access Business Pulse, visit http://www.cdcfoundation.org/businesspulse.
“Healthcare-associated infections threaten all of us. These infections can be prevented, and by doing so we can save lives and dollars,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “Together with CDC, there are important steps businesses and healthcare providers can take so that patients receive safer care.”
This issue of Business Pulse highlights specific safe healthcare challenges faced by businesses, as well as a question and answer feature between Hospital Corporation of America’s Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Perlin, M.D., Ph.D, and CDC expert Michael Bell, M.D., deputy director of CDC′s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. The Safe Healthcare Business Pulse also features an interactive infographic that provides useful facts and links for connecting with CDC, along with online CDC resources.
“Our collaboration with CDC has yielded cutting edge prevention strategies that all hospitals can use to protect patients from drug-resistant threats like MRSA. Efforts like this are great for patients and also can help employers maintain a healthy workforce and control their healthcare costs,” said Perlin. HCA has more than 200,000 employees and is a leading healthcare company, providing approximately 5 percent of major hospital services in the United States.
The Safe Healthcare Business Pulse is the second in a series of quarterly business features created by the CDC Foundation, an independent nonprofit organization that helps connect CDC to the private sector to address important public health issues.
“Infections from medical care impact your employees, increase the cost of health insurance for everyone and decrease your ability to do business,” said Charles Stokes, president and CEO of the CDC Foundation. “This issue of Business Pulse is an excellent resource for business leaders who want to connect with CDC to help protect their employees’ well-being and the bottom line.”
Established by Congress, the CDC Foundation helps the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) do more, faster, by forging public-private partnerships to support CDC’s work 24/7 to save lives and protect people from health and safety threats. The CDC Foundation currently manages more than 200 CDC-led programs in the United States and in 58 countries around the world. Since 1995 the CDC Foundation has launched more than 700 programs and raised $400 million to advance the life-saving work of CDC. For more information, please visit www.cdcfoundation.org.