2015 NHSN CAUTI Definition Change and its Impact on CLABSI Rates at an Academic Medical Center

Background The National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) revised their catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) definition in January 2015 to exclude funguria. This definition change led to an increase in diagnosis of catheter-related fungemia in other health systems, due to the exclusion of CAUTI as an attributable source. We evaluated the effect of the NHSN CAUTI definition change on central line-associated blood stream infection (CLABSI) rates at our hospital.