By KRWG News
New Mexico – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded $1.5 million to New Mexico to prevent healthcare-associated infections.
Gov. Bill Richardson said the funding will help the state expand its work to reduce infections in hospitals around the state.
Richardson signed legislation earlier this year to create a permanent Healthcare-Associated Infections Advisory Committee. The committee recently completed a pilot project with six hospitals in Albuquerque, Alamogordo, Farmington and Las Cruces.
The advisory committee established standards for reporting healthcare-associated infections and has started training hospitals to assure proper reporting.
The state Department of Health plans to use the federal funding to expand the healthcare-associated infections project.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.