Webinar: Beyond Technology: How High-Performing Hospitals Turn Hand Hygiene Programs Into ROI

Why It Matters

Accurate, automated hand‑hygiene monitoring turns a safety metric into cost savings and regulatory advantage, giving hospitals a scalable path to better outcomes and measurable ROI.

Key Takeaways

• Electronic hand‑hygiene surveillance replaces unreliable manual observations in hospitals.
• Unbiased data collection reveals true compliance rates across all shifts.
• HID’s RTLS solution saved roughly $1 M annual labor costs.
• Executive leadership commitment drives culture change and ROI realization.
• Scalable system now monitors millions of hand‑hygiene events network‑wide.

Summary

The webinar, hosted by HID Global and Hackensack Meridian Health, explored how high‑performing hospitals can convert hand‑hygiene programs into measurable return on investment. Featuring senior leaders such as Carrie Brock, Beth Greg, and Dr. Jerry Zuckerman, the session highlighted the partnership that began in 2022 and now spans nine hospitals and a tent site. Key insights centered on the stark infection risk—one in 31 patients acquires a hospital‑associated infection—and the WHO’s five‑component framework for hand hygiene. Joanne emphasized that compliance is a patient‑safety promise, while Jerry quantified the scale: over 4,700 acute‑care beds, 190,000 admissions, and millions of hand‑hygiene opportunities annually. Manual audits captured less than 2% of events, inflating labor costs to roughly $1 million per year. Notable examples included the transition from manual “Hawthorne‑effect” observations to HID’s RTLS‑based electronic surveillance, which provides unbiased, 24/7 data across all shifts. The network now records tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of hand‑hygiene events per quarter, eliminating the need for 2,500 staff‑hours of manual monitoring. Executive leadership’s pledge and the technology’s scalability were credited for driving cultural change and delivering cost savings. The implications are clear: reliable, automated monitoring delivers accurate compliance metrics, reduces labor expenses, and supports regulatory readiness. Hospitals adopting similar solutions can expect improved patient outcomes, stronger safety culture, and a demonstrable ROI that justifies further investment in digital infection‑prevention tools.

Original Description

Hand hygiene programs are widely recognized as essential to reducing healthcare-associated infections, but not all programs deliver the same results. Too often, hospitals invest in technology without an accompanying strategy to drive staff adoption, limiting both clinical impact and return on investment.

In this webinar, Kerry Brock and JoAnne Scalise from HID Healthcare RTLS will explore why hospitals that actively nurture adoption of hand hygiene programs consistently outperform those that simply “buy and deploy.” You’ll hear directly from Hackensack Meridian Health who has successfully embedded hand hygiene into daily workflows and culture, sharing practical approaches for driving engagement, accountability, and sustained behavior change.