CDC Joins National Campaign to Save 100,000 Lives Through Health Care Improvement

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced today that it has joined the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s 100,000 Lives Campaign, the first-ever national campaign to use proven healthcare improvement techniques to save 100,000 lives. The campaign aims to enlist more than 1,600 hospitals across the country during the next 18 months to reach this goal.

CDC will serve as a scientific partner to IHI and provide its expertise in preventing healthcare-associated infections to the local and regional hospital teams taking part in this campaign to save 100,000 lives. CDC’s main efforts will be in assisting IHI with collecting information about hospital progress in the six campaign intervention areas, which include prevention of surgical site infections and severe adverse drug events.

"CDC is happy to join IHI in this effort to get hospitals across the nation to increase their use of scientifically proven strategies to improve the safety of healthcare," said Dr. Denise Cardo, director of CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. "Patient safety is a CDC priority and we look forward to working with IHI in this effort to save 100,000 lives." The effort also has been endorsed by two other agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services – the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The campaign, which was formally launched this past December, has been endorsed by many national health care organizations such as the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, and the North Carolina State Hospital Association; and by such noteworthy health care providers as Ascension Health, SSM Health Care and the Veterans Health Administration.

"We're delighted that CDC is joining us in this campaign," said Dr. Donald Berwick, President and CEO of IHI. "CDC's commitment to improving the quality of health care in the United States, its depth of experience and its scientific expertise will be tremendous assets to all of the hospitals engaged in this initiative."

CDC is committed to preventing health-care associated infections as a critical component of patient safety. CDC has been a national leader for surveillance and prevention of health-care associated infections since the 1970s. CDC provides and fully supports science-based recommendations and systems which aim to reduce and prevent adverse events in healthcare settings and is pleased to support this effort as a campaign partner.

To learn more about the 100,000 Lives Campaign, please visit www.ihi.org/ihi/programs/campaign.