Infection Control Acronyms

Every field has its own jargon, vocabulary, and acronyms. Infection control and prevention is no different! In today's post, we'll look at some of the lesser-known acronyms that every infection prevention professional should know. For those topics we have covered elsewhere in the blog, you will find a link to that page. So grab your spoons and get ready for some alphabet soup!

Practice and Clinical Terms

MIC | Minimum Inhibitory Concentration  lowest concentration of antimicrobial that inhibits growth

PCR | Polymerase Chain Reaction  technique that copies portions of DNA and helps ID pathogens

RCA | Root Cause Analysis  systematic process for identifying the original cause of a problem

Organizations, Agencies and Legislation

AHRQ | Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality  federal agency in charge of improving healthcare

DHQP | Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion  CDC division responsible for patient and HCW safety

HICPAC | Hospital Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee  CDC advisory group

HRSA | Health Research Society of America  federal agency responsible for health outcomes and access

MACRA Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015  legislation about quality & payments

NQF | National Quality Forum  nonprofit focused on improving healthcare quality and reporting

Surveillance and Reporting

ABCs | Active Bacterial Core Surveillance  surveillance system for invasive bacterial pathogens

ASC | Active Surveillance Cultures  microbiological screening cultures for hospital-admitted patients

EHR | Electronic Health Records  systematized, digitized collection of patient health information

HCAHPS | Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers & Systems  satisfaction survey

HCUP | Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project AHRQ's family of healthcare databases and tools

HRRP | Hospital Readmission Reduction Program  CMS VBP program to reduce readmissions

IQR | Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program CMS data collection for public release

JCAHO | Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations nonprofit accreditation program

LABID EVENT | Lab Identified Event  data derived only from laboratory test rather than patient evaluation

M&M | Morbidity and Mortality federal reporting of weekly statistics about illness and cause of death

MPSMS | Medicare Patient Safety Monitoring System  national tracking of rates of patient harm

NHSN | National Healthcare Safety Network  federal healthcare-associated infections tracking system

OQR | Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program CMS pay-for-reporting program

PSI | Patient Safety Indicator set of measures that screen for adverse events experienced by patients

SIR | Standardized Infection Ratio statistic based on expected vs. actual infections at a facility

Financial Health

DRG | Diagnosis-Related Group patient classification system that standardizes prospective payment

IPPS | Inpatient Prospective Payment System  CMS's system of payment based on DRG rates

MIPS | Merit-Based Incentive Payment System  upcoming CMS payment and incentive system

OPPS | Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System  CMS' way to decide outpatient care rates

QPP | Quality Payment Program  CMS program to incentivize quality over volume

VBP | Value-Based Purchasing  Linking provider payments to cost and quality of care

We hope this list of acronyms was helpful and informative. Of course, there are more acronyms we could cover. This selection represents some critical aspects of healthcare quality and infection control. Let us know if we left out anything important!