Cardinal Health executives are preparing for a summit on a healthcare topic that has received plenty of publicity in recent months - hospital-acquired infections. Cardinal says the infections are associated with nearly $20 billion in avoidable costs every year.
The Chasing Zero Summit is slated for Sept. 8-10 in Washington D.C.
The event focuses on the leadership and operational issues the healthcare industry faces as it pushes for a zero-tolerance approach for hospital-acquired infections, or HAIs.
The summit organizers put forth these stats:
- HAIs occur in 1.7 million patients annually and account for 50 percent of all major hospital complications, according to the Centers for Disease Control;
- Nearly 100,000 patients with HAIs die each year, approximately 270 patients per day, according to "Estimating Health Care-Associated Infections and Deaths in U.S. Hospitals, 2002" by Klevens et al; and
- Hospital infections are associated with nearly $20 billion in avoidable costs and foregone revenues every year, according to Cardinal Health analysis.
Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, is among the featured speakers.
Other speakers at the event include:
- Peter Angood, MD, vice president and chief patient safety officer of the Joint Commission;
- Donald M. Berwick, MD, president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement;
- Leah Binder, CEO of The Leapfrog Group
- Mark R. Chassin, MD, president of the Joint Commission
- Carolyn Clancy, MD, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality
- Janet M. Corrigan, president and CEO of the National Quality Forum;
- David R. Hunt, MD, chief medical officer in the Office of Health IT Adoption for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in the Department of Health and Human Services.
- Mark McClellan, MD, director, Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution;
- Leonard D. Schaeffer chair in health policy studies; administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (2004-2006) and commissioner, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (2002-2004);
- Uwe E. Reinhardt, James Madison professor of political economics, Princeton University; and
- Thomas Valuck, MD, medical officer and senior adviser of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Center for Medicare Management.
What are your hospital's greatest challenges in eliminating hospital-acquired infections? Send your comments to Editor Bernie Monegain at bernie.monegain@medtechpublishing.com.