Support for National Healthcare Safty Network!

Sorry, I did not want to modify this correspondence from the Honorable United States Senator Dianne Feinstein, the font for the header did not come through, I Just wanted everybody to see this and ask that you support the efforts on the Federal level, that will be the next stop!

 

Dear Mr. Slavinski: Thank you for contacting me regarding your support for the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). I appreciate hearing from you and welcome the opportunity to respond. I understand you would like me to support President Obama's $27.5 million Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 budget request for the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), at any given time, 1 in 20 U.S. hospital patients have a healthcare-associated infection (HAI). HAIs can occur in any place that health services are delivered and HHS estimates HAIs cost $28 to $33 billion in preventable healthcare expenditures every year. You may be pleased to know that the CDC has announced that recent efforts to combat the incidence of HAIs have reduced the rates of all major forms of HAIs in the United States. The most dramatic decline has been demonstrated in central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) in intensive care patients. The CDC has measured a 58% decline in CLABSI infections between 2001 and 2009, a result that is believed to have saved approximately 27,000 lives and close to $2 billion in healthcare costs. I applaud recent successes in attempts to reduce HAIs, but believe more must be done to ensure reductions in the number of infections in healthcare settings. Please know that as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I have carefully noted your comments and will keep them in mind as the FY 2013 appropriations process proceeds. Again, thank you for contacting me. If you should have any further comments or questions, please feel free to contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841. Best regards. Sincerely yours, Dianne Feinstein United States Senator Further information about my position on issues of concern to California and the nation are available at my website, Feinstein.senate.gov. You can also receive electronic e-mail updates by subscribing to my e-mail list. Click here to sign up. And please visit my YouTube, Facebook and Twitter for more ways to communicate with me.