The purpose of Antibiotic Stewardship Programs (ASPs) is to slow the development of antibiotic resistance, improve patient outcomes, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs. These outcomes can be achieved by the on-going engagement, education and collaboration by a group of leaders of key departments in health facilities committed to best practices in antimicrobial therapeutics.
In each participating facility, ASP members often include one or more of the following groups of health professionals:
- Physician
- Pharmacist
- Director of Nursing
- Infection Preventionist
- Maintenance or Environmental Cleaning Director
- Facility Administrator
The Hawai’i Department of Health (HDOH) has been supporting the development of antimicrobial stewardship programs
in the state since 2016. The existing Hawaii Antimicrobial Stewardship Collaborative (HASC) provides technical assistance and educational materials to Acute Care Hospitals and Long-Term Care Facilities, and promotes networking, communication and resource sharing among ASP leaders to further support antimicrobial stewardship capacity.
Teamwork on ASPs has included the Healthcare Association of Hawaii (HAH), and Mountain Pacific Quality Health (MPQH), with technical expertise provided by the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawaii at Hilo (DKICP) and The John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (JABSOM).
ASP participation by healthcare facilities is completely voluntary and free of charge. For more information, please access HASC for Acute Care Hospitals, and Long-Term Care Facilities.
CMS Requirements: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) require all acute-care hospitals that participate in Medicare or Medicaid to develop and implement an antibiotic stewardship program as part of their infection control efforts, regulations § 482.42(b) and § 485.640(b) respectively. Similarly, the regulation 42 CFR § 483.80 (a)(3) indicated that Long Term Care Facilities must establish and maintain an infection prevention and control program that includes antibiotic stewardship using protocols and a system to monitor antibiotic use.
Source: National Archives