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Clostridium difficile Collaborative

Facts about C. difficile

•    C. difficile is a spore-forming bacteria that, without proper cleaning, can survive on surfaces for many weeks.
•    Like other bacteria, C. difficile is most commonly transferred via the hands of health care workers who do not practice hand hygiene.
•    Bleach-containing solution is the best agent to disinfect C. difficile-contaminated surfaces.
•    The incidence of C. difficile is growing fast, doubling from 31 cases per 100,000 people in 1996 to 61 per 100,000 in 2003.
•    C. difficile may cost the nation’s hospitals more than $1.1 billion annually.
•    Mortality rates from C. difficile in the U.S. increased from 5.7 per million population in 1999 to 23.7 per million in 2004.

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Hospital-acquired infections, including those associated with Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), are the most common complication affecting hospitalized patients. A growing body of evidence demonstrates that infections cause considerable harm to patients and substantially increase the costs of hospital care, so it's little surprise that infection prevention has become a top priority nationwide.

To address the rising rate of hospital-acquired infections in the metropolitan New York area, the United Hospital Fund and the Greater New York Hospital Association, in cooperation with the New York State Department of Health, launched in 2008 a collaborative to reduce the rates of  Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) bacterial infections in the region’s hospitals. Guidance from infection prevention experts and a systematic approach are expected to generate significant declines in infection rates, similar to those achieved in the CLABs Collaborative.

Forty-two hospitals are participating in this collaborative.

Project Contact: Hillary Jalon