In fall 2015, we touched upon the true cost of hand hygiene compliance. Our post highlighted that proper hand hygiene reduces the spread of infection but compliance remains low.  Additionally, results of the recent DebMed State of Hand Hygiene Compliance survey  indicated that while most facilities consider hand hygiene an important priority, the cost of implementing a system drove their organizations’ purchasing decisions. In fact, cost outranked the ability to deliver proven outcomes in reducing healthcare-associated infections.  In our post, we asked the following questions: what is the true cost of hand hygiene compliance? Is the installation and the cost of the system driving budget priority? What about patients and staff who suffer from hospital-acquired infections (HAIs)? And finally, there is the consideration of just how much  these patient and staff safety issues ultimately cost hospitals, and the overall healthcare system.

Most hospital officials are well aware of the patient safety-related implications of poor hand hygiene -- most importantly, healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), which are almost always preventable. But now, new regulations will bring the financial consequences of HAIs to the forefront.