and quarterly board reports, increasing leadership buy-in and unlocking dedicated resources for prevention initiatives.
Case in Point: Systemic Visibility
One health system recently elevated its senior IP leader to a VP-level role reporting directly to the chief quality officer. This allowed the IP program to participate in strategic planning, lead annual safety initiatives, and influence capital investments in infection-control technologies. The result? A 22 percent decrease in CLABSI rates over two years, faster rollout of antimicrobial stewardship, and stronger Joint Commission readiness.
An example of this model can be seen at Intermountain Health, a not-for-profit health system based in Utah. Their infection prevention leadership reports at the system level and collaborates closely with executive teams across their hospitals and clinics. Intermountain has publicly emphasized the integration of infection prevention in enterprise-level quality improvement initiatives, contributing to high performance on safety scores and regulatory readiness. Their strategic approach, which includes real-time data dashboards and cross-departmental infection prevention councils, exemplifies the proactive model that elevates IP from a compliance task to a leadership role.
This kind of structural visibility turns infection prevention from a reactive service into a proactive leadership asset.
Steps IPs Can Take Now Even if you’ re not yet embedded in your organization’ s executive structures, you can start laying the groundwork:
• Retitle your IP Plan – it is more than a department plan, it’ s the opportunity to show organizational alignment, it’ s your IP Strategic plan, based on real data, population served, and annual performance.
• Map where IP fits in the current org chart, budget, and planning cycles.
• Identify cross-functional opportunities to contribute to strategic conversations( e. g., safety councils, facility design teams, budgeting committees) and insert yourself into those committees.
• Aligning IP goals with strategic priorities such as value-based care, quality incentive programs, workforce or patient experience.
• Engage executive sponsors who can advocate for IP integration at higher levels. These are in addition to your unit sponsors, and physician dyads.
• Develop a multi-year vision for infection prevention that shows how your program supports enterprise goals.
The Future of IP Is Strategic
The healthcare landscape is only growing more complex— financial pressures, workforce shortages, and patient expectations continue to climb. Infection prevention is not a support service in this environment; it’ s a stabilizing force. But only if we’ re at the table.
By embedding infection prevention into governance, planning, and metrics, healthcare systems signal that safety isn’ t optional— it’ s foundational. And IPs, when integrated at this level, become catalysts for resilience, innovation, and strategic success.
We’ ve claimed our seat in the room. Now it’ s time to shape the agenda.
Deborah Ellis, PhD, MS, MT( ASCP), CIC, LTC-CIP, CPHQ, FACHE, is the system director of infection prevention and control at Alameda Health System in California. With extensive experience in infection prevention, she brings a microbiology-based lens to healthcare epidemiology and system-level risk management. A fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and a graduate of UCLA’ s Executive Education program, Ellis is passionate about advancing IP leadership in health system governance. She is also a national consultant and advocate for equity in infection prevention leadership pathways.
SUBMISSIONS WANTED
Healthcare Hygiene magazine invites infection prevention stakeholders from all aspects of prevention and control( including IP / healthcare epidemiology, healthcare value analysis, quality / safety / risk management, surgical services, sterile processing, environmental services, biomedical engineering and scientific research) to submit sciencedriven, best practice-based articles for consideration for publication. Please, no public relations pitches or articles with commercial overtones. Send your queries to Kelly Pyrek at: kelly @ healthcarehygienemagazine. com
Keep up on the latest news headlines, monthly issues and special editions at: www. healthcarehygienemagazine. com
healthcarehygienemagazine
jan-feb 2026 • www. healthcarehygienemagazine. com •
9