CDC to distribute $40M in stimulus funds to state health depts.

By Kristi E. Swartz

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Center for Disease Control said Tuesday it will give $40 million in federal stimulus money to state health departments to help prevent infections patients get while being treated for something else.

The money will be used to prevent infections as well as to encourage the use of a federal surveillance system that tracks healthcare-associated infections.

Americans get 1.7 million healthcare-associated infections a year while being treated in hospitals, according to the CDC. These infections have led to 99,000 deaths a years as well as an increased $90 billion in additional healthcare costs.

About $35.8 billion in federal stimulus money is available nationwide to help states prevent healthcare-associated infections, with Georgia set to receive about $844,000 of that, according to the state Department of Community Health’s federal stimulus plan.

DCH received $242,000 of that money this week. The agency will use it to write up a plan toward preventing healthcare-associated infections as well as to use the CDC’s Web-based program to track them, an agency spokeswoman said.

Agencies must keep track of federal stimulus dollars as well as report the number of jobs created or saved by that money. It is unclear at this point how many jobs will be created by the money being distributed by the CDC.