2024 National and State Healthcare-Associated Infections Progress Report

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released the 2024 National and State Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) Progress Report. This report focuses mainly on hospital-onset infections (i.e., a subset of all HAIs) and includes data from the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) for acute care hospitals (ACHs), inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs), and long-term acute care hospitals (LTACHs). The data for each facility and infection type can be found in CDC's Antimicrobial Resistance & Patient Safety Portal (AR&PSP).

Measuring Progress in Acute Care Hospitals

The report shows that in 2024, across U.S. ACHs there were significant decreases in most HAIs compared to 2023.

Additionally, all settings observed significant decreases in facility-onset Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) and at least one other HAI between 2023 and 2024; ACHs observed significant decreases in all HAIs except abdominal hysterectomy surgical site infections (SSI-HYST) (Figure 1):

• Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) ( 9%),
• Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) ( 10%),
• Ventilator-associated events (VAE) ( 2%),
• Surgical site infections following colon surgery (SSI-COLO) ( 4%),
• Hospital-onset methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteremia ( 7%), and
• Hospital-onset Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) ( 11%).

Among surgical site infections (SSI) in ACHs, abdominal hysterectomy (HYST) observed an 8% increase in 2024 compared to 2023.

Additional Measures of Progress

The 2015 national baseline standardized infection ratio (SIR) of 1 is used as another reference point for measuring progress. In 2024, national SIRs for ACHs were similar to 2023 progress, with most HAI SIRs significantly lower than the 2015 SIR of 1 except SIRs for VAE and SSI HYST, which reported SIRs greater than the 2015 baseline SIR of 1 (Figure 2).

In 2024, there was progress in reducing HAIs in other healthcare settings compared to 2023. In IRFs, significant decreases were reported for CAUTI (8%) and IRF-onset CDI (18%) (Figure 1). Among LTACHs, significant decreases were observed for VAE (23%) and LTACH-onset CDI (15%) compared to 2023. No other significant changes were reported for IRFs or LTACHs (Figure 1).

The 2024 HAI Progress Report continues to highlight the need for healthcare facilities to implement proven infection prevention and control practices and strategies. Additionally, states can use the report to evaluate their progress compared to the prior year or with the nation. CDC remains committed to protecting patients and promoting safety and quality in healthcare. CDC will continue partnering with healthcare facilities and other federal and local public health agencies to achieve healthcare quality across the U.S.

Explore the Antimicrobial Resistance & Patient Safety Portal (AR&PSP) for data from this most recent HAI Progress Report. You may also read the full 2024 HAI Progress Report for additional national and state-specific HAI data.