Economic evaluation of interventions for prevention of hospital acquired infections: a systematic review.

Health care–associated infections are a longstanding patient safety priority, and intensive multifaceted interventions have been shown to prevent them. This systematic review examined economic analyses of interventions to prevent hospital-acquired infections and found highly positive cost–benefit ratios. Although the authors raised concerns that quality of reporting in the identified studies was low, they concluded that preventing hospital-acquired infections is a cost-effective patient safety strategy. A PSNet perspective on the business case for patient safety discussed health care–associated infections.