Although California hospitals made some overall progress reducing healthcare-associated infection (HAI) incidence in 2022, ongoing efforts are necessary to facilitate HAI reductions across all hospital types and ensure the sustainability of further prevention progress. Following substantial increases in 2020, statewide incidence for central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections (MRSA BSI) decreased between 2021 and 2022, but they remained higher than in 2019. In long-term acute care (LTAC) hospitals, CLABSI, MRSA BSI, and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) BSI incidence all continued to increase since 2020.

With additional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) funding for Strengthening HAI/AR Programs (SHARP) awarded in October 2021, the HAI Program resumed and expanded our statewide and regional HAI and antimicrobial resistance (AR) prevention initiatives in 2022. To ensure the quality and consistency of hospital HAI surveillance practices and publicly reported data used to inform and track HAI prevention progress, the HAI Program resumed routine annual HAI data validation exercises with hospitals. We convened a CLABSI reduction initiative with more than 30 hospitals, and prioritized LTAC engagement for AR response and prevention, including antimicrobial stewardship.

​As part of CDPH’s commitment to reducing health disparities experienced by vulnerable communities in California, the HAI Program began developing health-equity focused initiatives across all program areas, including analyses examining the relationship between social determinants of health and HAI/AR outcomes in hospitals. CDPH also continues to engage the California HAI Advisory Committee and other hospital partners to identify and support implementation of strategies for maintaining resilience in hospital IPC practices while managing ongoing and future stressors. 

The data tables are available on the California Health and Human Services Open Data Portal​ (select Diseases and Conditions).