They don't want no stinking advice
According to reporting by NBC News, members of
the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) were
informed of the termination last week in a letter from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC). HICPAC is one of several federal advisory groups
that have been terminated since Donald Trump issued an executive order in
February aimed at reducing the federal bureaucracy.
HICPAC consists of 14 voting non-federal employee members who are selected by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary and have expertise in infectious diseases, infection prevention and control, healthcare epidemiology, nursing, public health, and other areas of health and medicine. The group meets up to eight times year at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta. The meetings are open to the public.
Established in 1991, HICPAC has been responsible for
crafting and reviewing guidance on a host of infection control and prevention
protocols used by US healthcare facilities to protect patients and healthcare
workers from infectious diseases. Over its more than three decades of
existence, HICPAC has issued evidence-based recommendations to the CDC on
standard precautions for patient care (including hand hygiene and use of
personal protective equipment), isolation of sick patients, environmental
infection control, disease-specific care, and preferred methods of cleaning and
disinfecting medical devices.
HICPAC had been scheduled to meet on March 6 and 7, but the
meeting was postponed. HHS did not respond to an email seeking confirmation of
the news.
Infection prevention groups voice their concerns
While HICPAC guidelines aren't legally binding, they are
routinely adopted by the CDC and play a large role in setting the standards
that are widely followed in US hospitals, doctor's and dentist offices,
ambulatory surgery centers, nursing homes, and other healthcare settings.
"It has been a powerhouse in developing guidance to
keep us and our patients safe in the hospital," Alex Sundermann, DrPH, an
assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh, wrote recently in Medpage
Today amid rumors that the group might be on the chopping block.
"Frontline clinicians, infection preventionists, nurses, and hospital
quality teams rely on HICPAC guidance every day. Its recommendations shape the
protocols used to prevent device-related infections, respond to emerging
outbreaks, and meet regulatory and accreditation requirements."
But the committee hasn't been without its critics. Most recently, HICPAC's draft proposal in 2023 to update the CDC's 2007 isolation precaution guidelines was widely criticized for suggesting that surgical masks are as effective as respirators for preventing airborne pathogens like SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. A letter signed by more than 900 public health experts warned that the proposed guidelines could weaken protections for healthcare workers exposed to infectious aerosols.
Still, several professional societies representing the
infectious diseases and infection prevention community protested the
termination, saying in a joint statement yesterday
that disbanding the group will jeopardize decades of progress in preventing
healthcare-associated infections.
"The decision to terminate HICPAC creates a preventable
gap in national preparedness and response capacity, leaving healthcare
facilities without timely, evidence-based and expert-driven recommendations at
a time when threats from emerging pathogens and antimicrobial resistance are on
the rise," the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, Infectious
Diseases Society of America, the Association for Professionals in Infection
Control and Epidemiology, and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society said.
"The absence of this committee's guidance creates a
significant void in the field, fosters uncertainty among healthcare facilities,
and puts patients at risk."
