We're in Atlanta this weekend, where Extending the Cure and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Get Smart for Healthcare campaign are hosting a meeting on inpatient antimicrobial use.

The goal is optimizing antibiotic use in health care facilities so that susceptible bugs don't become resistant.

On Wednesday the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS and Education held a hearing on a National Strategy to Reduce Healthcare Associated Infections. Witnesses included the Directors of the CDC, and AHRQ, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health of HHS, a representative for the American Hosptal Association, representative for the New York State Department of Health, and Peter Pronovost of Johns Hopkins (and checklist fame).