Recently, the Trump administration announced the termination of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC), a key federal advisory group critical in providing guidance to prevent the spread of infections in healthcare settings. This move is generating concerns among infection prevention professionals.
HICPAC has long constituted the backbone of infection control in the nation’s healthcare facilities through their national standards on hand hygiene, mask use, and patient isolation practices. These guidelines are followed by most U.S. hospitals.
This decision was communicated to the HICPAC members by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to a letter reviewed by NBC News, the termination was effective from March 31. This action aligns with President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed to streamline the federal workforce.
Despite multiple pleas from professional societies to the Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in order to maintain the committee amid extensive cuts, the termination proceeded. To date, no responses have been received from either the CDC or the Department of Health and Human Services regarding this issue.
Although much of the committee’s online content is archived and accessible, there will be no updates. This spells worry for some members who fear that inability to modify guidelines corresponding to new scientific discovery or growing threats, like drug-resistant organisms, will stagnate progress. Connie Steed, a seasoned HICPAC member and ex-president of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, stated that without the ability to adapt guidelines, people would be navigating infection prevention judgmentally, devoid of guidance.
Before the termination, HICPAC was close to publishing new guidelines for airborne pathogens, a critical revision not updated since 2007. An intriguing element of these guidelines allowed surgical masks to replace N95 respirators in mitigating the spread of some pathogens. This information was crucial, especially in light of the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Dr. Anurag Malani, Infectious Diseases Society of America fellow and HICPAC member.
The loss of HICPAC was highly regretted by Jane Thomason, the chief hygienist at National Nurses United. Though critical about HICPAC’s constitution and proposed guidance, Thomason stated the committee’s end impeded important public transparency. The lack of public meetings will hinder access to CDC’s process of drafting guidance on infection control in healthcare settings, compromising safety for patients and healthcare workers alike.
In its three-decade tenure, HICPAC has made 540 recommendations to the CDC, with a remarkable 90% implementation rate. Malani underlined the importance of such recommendations for maintaining consistent infection control across the nation, suggesting a problematic scenario where state and local health departments would be left to devise their own strategies without centralized guidance.
In essence, the dissolution of HICPAC will likely have significant implications for infection prevention professionals, and potentially, goals for patient safety and healthcare quality.