Prevention Matters

The development of technology to calculate prevention’s return on investment was named Partnership for Prevention's "Best Prevention Idea of the Week," while hospital budget cuts to infection-control efforts was named the "Worst Prevention Idea of the week."

The Best/Worst Idea awards are a regular feature of Prevention Matters, the blog of Partnership for Prevention. Each week, Partnership for Prevention's staff will choose the designees based on nominations of items in the previous week's news submitted by members, staff and the public at large. To submit a nomination or for more information, contact Damon Thompson at dthompson@prevent.org.


BEST

Harvard Researchers Develop Tool to Calculate Prevention's ROI

http://tinyurl.com/mx8c62

Researchers from Harvard Medical School have led the development of a prototype "return on investment calculator" that can measure the value of prevention services. Using a Boston-based mobile health program called the "Family Van" to test the tool, the team found that for the services provided in 2008, this program, in the long run, will return $36 for every dollar invested.



WORST

Hospitals cutting Infection-control efforts

http://tinyurl.com/l9ghhz

In a survey of 2,000 infection preventionists—conducted by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology—41 percent reported cuts in funding for infection-prevention efforts in the past 18 months due partly to the struggling economy.