Prevention Epicenter Program

About the Prevention Epicenters

CDC began the Prevention Epicenter Program in 1997 as a way to work directly with academic partners to address important scientific questions regarding the prevention of healthcare-associated infections, antibiotic resistance, and other adverse events associated with healthcare. CDC names new Prevention Epicenters every five years based on peer-reviewed grant applications and then works collaboratively with the Prevention Epicenter’s principal investigators on joint research projects.

Recent and ongoing Prevention Epicenter research studies and demonstration projects include:

  • Collaboration among centers to implement and evaluate strategies to reduce transmission of antimicrobial resistant organisms among patients in intensive care units using novel approaches to routine skin antisepsis.
  • A multi-center study of a novel approach to using administrative and pharmacy data to make surveillance for surgical site infections (SSIs) simpler and more accurate. The novel approach can decrease the labor required for the surveillance and yet substantially increase sensitivity of detection.
    • Yokoe DS. Noskin GA. Cunnigham SM. et. al. Enhanced identification of postoperative infections among inpatients. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 10(11):1924-30, 2004 Nov.
  • A multi-center intervention using post-prescription review as a method of promoting rational antimicrobial use. The results suggest that unjustified broad-spectrum antimicrobial use is common, and that post-prescription review can enhance appropriate antimicrobial use in hospitals.
    • Cosgrove SE, Srinivasin A, Seo K et al. Evaluation of post-prescription review as a method of promoting rational antimicrobial use: a multi-center study. Presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, Los Angeles. CA, April 11 2005. Abstract #279
  • A multi-center study to determine baseline incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE) transmission in 12 intensive care units (ICUs) in five hospitals. The study demonstrated that active surveillance cultures increase detection of MRSA and VRE colonization in ICUs by up to 49%.
    • Huang SS, Rifas-Shiman SL, Warren DK et al. Improving assessment of MRSA in ICUs. Presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, Los Angeles. CA, April 10 2005. Abstract #19
    • Huang SS, Rifas-Shiman SL, Pottinger J et al. Improving assessment of VRE. Presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, Los Angeles. CA, April 10 2005. Abstract #94

CDC recently completed competitive renewal of the Prevention Epicenter Program, and the new Prevention Epicenters began their work in February 2006. The current network consists of five academic partners. Each partner is affiliated with multiple healthcare facilities having common informatics infrastructures well suited to support healthcare quality research. The proposed focus of the new Epicenters’ research is to find novel strategies for detection and prevention of post-surgical adverse events, bloodstream infections, Clostridium difficile infections, infections caused by antimicrobial-resistant organisms, and inappropriate antimicrobial use

The current Prevention Epicenter principal investigators and their institutions represent over 50 affiliated hospitals and healthcare plans. They are:

  • Matthew Samore, M.D., University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Victoria Fraser, M.D., Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
  • Kurt B. Stevenson, M.D., M.P.H, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
  • Richard Platt, M.D., M.S., Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, Boston, Massachusetts
  • Robert Weinstein, M.D., The Cook County Bureau of Health Services and Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois

Date last modified: May 2, 2006
Content source: 
Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP)
National Center for Preparedness, Detection, and Control of Infectious Diseases