Authors response: Health care-associated infections: Significant challenge and it's to-be

The authors thank Guevara-Vega et al. for their response to our article and bringing forward critiques. Accurately measuring the financial impact related to health care-associated infections (HAIs) is important and complicated. Without proper financial calculations, programs focused on preventing HAIs will not be allocated the resources needed to reduce and eliminate HAIs. We agree that our publication goes against the status quo and long-established paradigm that the presence of HAIs increases hospital cost and therefore decreasing HAIs reduces hospital cost.