 despite significant progress patients still experience preventable harms in the context of outbreaks and other adverse events that stem from emerging infectious diseases with potential for healthcare transmission unsafe healthcare practices contaminated drugs and medical devices consistent and coordinated approaches to outbreak detection response investigation and control are needed to speed up detection of new threats reporting outbreaks to public health developing tools to support outbreak investigation stop outbreaks from spreading and inform prevention activities to address these needs cdcs division of healthcare quality promotion funded the association of state and territorial health officials astho and the council of state and territorial epidemiologists cste to co lead the council for outbreak response hai ar corha council member representatives bring expertise in healthcare epidemiology and infection prevention environmental health public health laboratory activities and hai ar reporting and regulation at the local state and federal levels 