State and federal legislative interests

Purpose - This paper aims to briefly describe the increasingly complex array of organizations influencing American healthcare-associated infection (HAI) prevention efforts during the modern era of infection control.Design methodology approach - This paper is a narrative review.Findings - The modern era of hospital infection control began in the 1950s, but received relatively little publicity until the dawn of the twenty-first century. Since then, there has been a wave of unprecedented magnitude in individual state legislation mandates followed by a shift from state to federal agency activity. The resulting programs are in varying stages of development, ability, sustainability, and coordination.Practical implications - Many government and healthcare entities are in uncharted territory with this new area of activity, facing challenges in having to coordinate work with many new and unfamiliar partners. Perspectives explored in this part of the Universities Council Symposium help by mapping out the various stakeholders in order to foster a research agenda through better understanding of powerful political players and their influence.Originality value - This is one of the first efforts to describe and map the evolving range of state and federal forces influencing hospitals' efforts to prevent healthcare-associated infections.