​​The Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) Program in the California Department of Public Health Center for Health Care Quality oversees the prevention, surveillance, an​d reporting of HAI and antimicrobial resistance (AR) in California's hospitals and other healthcare facilities.  Unfortunately, infections acquired as a result of receiving health care remain a public health problem; most HAI are preventable by following infection prevention care practices.  Since 2010, the HAI Program:

• Receives and publicly reports California hospital HAI data to provide hospital quality information to the public and prompt providers to take action to prevent infections;
• Follows up with hospitals that have high infection rates;
• Convenes statewide and regional HAI/AR prevention collaboratives to coordinate prevention efforts among facilities that commonly share patients;
• Assists local public health agencies to investigate unusual infection occurrences and outbreaks that occur in healthcare facilities.