Infection Preventionists Call for Reinstating CDC Advisory Committee

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) is a critical asset to the nation’s public health infrastructure, according to infection prevention specialists including the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). On May 2, the Trump Administration terminated the federal advisory committee, NBC News reported.

HICPAC provides evidence-based guidance that directly informs federal healthcare standards and protects patients and healthcare workers across hospitals, outpatient clinics, and extended care facilities. For example, HICPAC created national standards for handwashing, mask wearing, and the isolation of sick patients.

HICPAC’s recommendations are the basis for healthcare practices that facilities use daily to keep people safe from complications from healthcare-associated infections (including disinfection and sterilization practices for patient care instruments and equipment, isolation precautions for infectious diseases both confirmed and suspected, and disease-specific care and guidance recommendations). These guidelines inform facility-level policies, procedures, and standard work to keep patients and healthcare workers safe 

In a statement, APIC said the decision to terminate HICPAC creates a preventable gap in national preparedness and response capacity, leaving healthcare facilities without timely, evidence-based, and expert-driven recommendations at a time when threats from emerging pathogens and antimicrobial resistance are on the rise. The committee’s interdisciplinary composition—drawing on expertise in epidemiology, infectious disease, infection prevention, hospital administration, occupational health, and patient advocacy —ensures that its guidance is scientifically rigorous and operationally practical.

Disbanding HICPAC jeopardizes decades of progress in preventing healthcare-associated infections, APIC said. The depth of HICPAC’s review of scientific evidence and its members’ hundreds of years of collective experience result in guidelines widely accepted as the standard of care by healthcare accrediting organizations and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The absence of this committee’s guidance creates a significant void in the field, fosters uncertainty among healthcare facilities, and puts patients at risk.  

HICPAC is an essential component of patient safety, and its contributions cannot be replicated by the private sector, APIC emphasized. The association strongly urges CDC through Health and Human Services to reinstate HICPAC to preserve a resilient, coordinated, and science-driven public health infrastructure.