RID’s Record of Success

Since its founding in 2005, the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths (RID) has transformed thinking about hospital infections. Here is what RID has accomplished:

• • RID built a groundswell of demand for transparency and improvement. In 2004, not one state required hospitals to disclose their infection rates. Now 37 states do, and there will be more on the way.

• • RID made a compelling business case for infection prevention, showing hospital decision makers that preventing infections improves profits.

• • RID went to the White House under George W. Bush and convinced policymakers that Medicare should should stop paying hospitals to treat infections caused by the hospital.

• • The hand sanitizing dispensers you see everywhere are a clear sign of RID’s impact.

• • RID educated hospital and nursing home decision makers about the importance of screening incoming patients for MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). Screening is routine in almost half of U.S. hospitals, up from 17% in 2004.

• • When Clostridium difficile (C. diff) swept the nation, RID led the response, showing hospitals that cleaning rigorously is the first line of defense. In response to RID’s campaign for better cleaning even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has made its cleaning standards more rigorous.

• • RID is educating hospitals about new technologies that will help prevent infection.

• • This year RID is preparing hospitals and nursing homes to meet a new challenge, Candida auris.  

• • RID does all this on a shoestring budget, only $400,000 a year. Our overhead is small, but our impact is large and ever growing.

RID potentially saves more lives per dollar spent than other any other not for profit. Please support us by making a tax-deductible donation.