title: Health economic evaluation of an infection prevention and control program: are quality and patient safety programs worth the investment?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The effect of regional consolidation of an infection prevention and control (IPC) program on reduction of selected health care-acquired infections (HAIs), the economic burden of these illnesses, and where the potential for greatest financial benefit in reducing infection rates lies was assessed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cost-benefit analysis (in Canadian $) was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a regional IPC program in preventing incident cases of HAIs. The costs of managing these infections, as well as the operational costs of the IPC program were compared against reductions in HAI rates over a 4-year period. Benefits were calculated as cost avoided by reducing HAI cases year over year.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The Health Authority spent more than $66.3 million managing 24,937 HAI cases over the 4-year evaluation period. Urinary tract infections, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and bacteremias incurred the greatest costs. A reduction of 4,739 HAI cases led to avoided costs of $9.1 million in 4 years; the IPC program budget was $6.7 million during this period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Regionalization of the IPC program with standardized policies, procedures, and initiatives led to a 19% reduction in selected HAIs over 4 years and a cost avoidance of at least $9 million. This was particularly evident in years 3 and 4 of the program when $7.2 million (79% of the total) savings were realized.
authors.affiliation: Department of Quality and Patient Safety, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Stefanie.Raschka@vch.ca
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Raschka
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dempster
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bryce
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods*; D061214:Patient Safety / Q000191:economics*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus
keywords: Cost avoidance; Cost-benefit analysis; Surveillance