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Background In 2008, hospitals were selected to participate in the California Healthcare-Associated Infection Prevention Initiative (CHAIPI). This research evaluates the impact of CHAIPI on hospital adoption and implementation of evidence-based patient safety practices and reduction of health care–associated infection (HAI) rates. Methods Statewide computer-assisted telephone surveys of California's general acute care hospitals were conducted in 2008 and 2010 (response rates, 80% and 76%, respectively). Difference-in-difference analyses were used to compare changes in process and HAI rate outcomes in CHAIPI hospitals (n = 34) and non-CHAIPI hospitals (n = 149) that responded to both waves of the survey. Results Compared with non-CHAIPI hospitals, CHAIPI hospitals demonstrated greater improvements between 2008 and 2010 in adoption (P = .021) and implementation (P = .012) of written evidence-based practices for overall patient safety and prevention of HAIs and in assessing their compliance (P = .033) with these practices. However, there were no significant differences in the changes in HAI rates between CHAIPI and non-CHAIPI hospitals over this time period. Conclusions Participation in the CHAIPI collaborative was associated with significant improvements in evidence-based patient safety practices in hospitals. However, determining how evidence-based practices translate into changes in HAI rates may take more time. Our results suggest that all hospitals be offered the opportunity to participate in an active learning collaborative to improve patient safety.

Background This research analyzes the relationship between hospital use of automated surveillance technology (AST) for identification and control of hospital-acquired infections (HAI) and implementation of evidence-based infection control practices. Our hypothesis is that hospitals that use AST have made more progress implementing infection control practices than hospitals that rely on manual surveillance. Methods A survey of all acute general care hospitals in California was conducted from October 2008 through January 2009. A structured computer-assisted telephone interview was conducted with the quality director of each hospital. The final sample includes 241 general acute care hospitals (response rate, 83%). Results Approximately one third (32.4%) of California's hospitals use AST for monitoring HAI. Adoption of AST is statistically significant and positively associated with the depth of implementation of evidence-based practices for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and ventilator-associated pneumonia and adoption of contact precautions and surgical care infection practices. Use of AST is also statistically significantly associated with the breadth of hospital implementation of evidence-based practices across all 5 targeted HAI. Conclusion Our findings suggest that hospitals using AST can achieve greater depth and breadth in implementing evidenced-based infection control practices.