Infection Rates Plummeted When Hospital Hired More Infection Preventionists

 Virginia’s Carilion Clinic health system had a lot of foresight as it set out in 2020 to increase the size of its infection prevention and control (IPC) team. The strategy paid off as, over a three-year period, various infection rates dropped precipitously as more full-time infection preventionist (IP) staff joined the health system.

The not–for–profit healthcare organization presented its findings at the 2025 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) Annual Conference in Phoenix.

In August 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Carilion Clinic had only 11 IPs for its eight-hospital system of more than 1,000 licensed beds. The facility ramped up its IP staffing gradually, believing that more trained IPs could result in sustained improvements in both the infection rates and patient safety outcomes.

By 2023, Carilion more than doubled its IP staff from 11 to 24 full-timers and reaped the benefits of a marked decrease in the incidence of various healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) as a direct result of the hiring of additional IP staff.

Carilion reported that catheter-associated urinary tract infections dropped 57%, Clostridioides difficile declined by 52%,  colon surgical site infections were down by 26%, and central line-associated bloodstream infections dropped by 16%.

Achieving such eye-popping results required IPs to think like the chief marketing officer and the chief medical officer as well.

 The team, led by Maimuna Jatta, RN, MSN, CIC, director of infection prevention and control, Carilion Clinic, the hospital’s parent, aligned IP resources with Carilion’s organizational priorities, knowing that a well-resourced IPC program is fundamental to patient safety, quality care, and effective risk management. Reducing HAIs also directly impacts Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Star Ratings, Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades, Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores, and Value-Based Purchasing metrics.

Beefed up IPC staffs paid dividends for patients as reduced HAIs lead to fewer extended stays, lower readmission rates, fewer CMS penalties, and significant cost savings.

“Pushing more infection preventionists to the front line means that instead of just controlling infections, we were preventing them from occurring in the first place,” Jatta said. “IP leaders should collaborate with finance executive to analyze the cost per HAI event, project potential savings from reduction of HAIs and build a data-driven business case for additional IP staffing and infrastructure.”

“Carilion is a strong example of what many forward-thinking healthcare systems are discovering: increasing the number of Ips on staff improves patient outcomes by reducing the rates of healthcare-associated infections,” said APIC 2025 President Carol McLay DrPH, MPH, RN, FAPIC, FSHEA, CIC. “When infection rates go down, we also see shorter hospital stays, fewer readmissions, and meaningful cost savings, benefits that ripple across the entire healthcare system.”