VA Medical Alert Tool Speeds Infection Control

Research News

July 22, 2026

Transmission of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) is a significant concern for hospitals. Each year, 3 million infections and 48,000 deaths are attributed to MDROs (i.e., Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA) in the United States. The implementation of contact precautions (CP) has proven effective in reducing the spread of MDROs. Contact precautions may include patient isolation, enhanced hand hygiene, use of personal protective equipment by healthcare providers, and increased environmental cleaning. The VA Bug Alert (VABA) was developed as a national MDRO tracker, providing real-time alerts for patients recently admitted who have a history of MDRO in the past year. VABA was launched in April 2022.

Conducted by HSR investigators, a retrospective cohort study used medical chart reviews to evaluate whether differences in VABA use across VA facilities were associated with a shorter time to initiation of contact precautions for patients admitted with a history of MDRO. The study focused on Veterans (n = 659) with a positive culture for a VABA-eligible organism who were admitted to a VABA-eligible VA medical center (VAMC) from May 2021 through October 2023. Results of this study were published in a recent article titled "Use of a Medical Alert Tool is Associated with Faster Time to Placement in Contact Precautions with MDRO " and showed that the VA Bug Alert was associated with earlier and more rapid placement into CP. Results demonstrated the alert system's effectiveness in rapidly identifying MDRO patients (within 24 hours) to reduce the spread of infection. This tool could also be replicated in other large integrated health systems with shared electronic medical records.

This study was conducted in collaboration with the VA MDRO Program Office, funded by VA's Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI), and was led by HSR Research Health Scientist Geneva Wilson, PhD, MPH, an investigator with HSR's Center of Innovations for Complex Chronic Healthcare (CINCCH), and HSR Research Career Scientist Charlesnika Evans, PhD, MPH, Associate Director of CINCCH.