Data for Action: Disclosing Washington State Healthcare-Associated MDRO Outbreaks
- Presentation Day/Time: Tuesday, April 21, 12:10 PM
- Presenter: Audrey Valentine, MPH, EIS officer assigned to the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) Applied Epidemiology Fellow, Washington State Department of Health
The Issue
- To protect patient safety, the Washington State Department of Health (WADOH) recommends screening for carbapenemase-producing organisms (CPOs) and Candida auris (C. auris) in patients with certain risk factors, including a prior admission to a healthcare facility during a multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) outbreak. Historically, healthcare-associated infection (HAI) outbreak information is shared selectively, so facilities often cannot act on this recommendation.
What We Did
- In September 2025, WADOH launched a targeted MDRO HAI outbreak disclosure list so facilities can take proactive action to prevent transmission of these organisms.
What We Found
- Facilities with robust admission and response screening programs and proactive infection prevention teams identify more outbreaks. Of 131 public health and infection prevention staff surveyed, 76% said the disclosure list provides situational awareness of organisms causing outbreaks and 46% believed it improves patient safety, but 27% believe the list harms facility reputation and 15% believe it slows patient flow between facilities.
What This Means
- Public health encourages robust screening but acknowledge that facilities may be disinclined to screen broadly if identifying more colonized patients results in documenting an outbreak. We will continue to convene with the advisory workgroup to address this challenge and discuss whether the benefits of disclosing an MDRO outbreak list outweigh the harms of continuing its use.
