Healthcare Safety Unit
This page provides information about Healthcare Safety Unit .
Disease Surveillance and Epidemiology Section
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- Disease Surveillance and Epidemiology Data Requests
- Disease Surveillance and Epidemiology Health Practitioner Guidance and Training
- Disease Surveillance and Epidemiology Mission and Overview of Related Branches
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- International Travel
- School Communicable Disease Chart
- Task Force on Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response
Healthcare Safety Unit
The Healthcare Safety Unit at the Texas Department of State Health Services began in 2010, with the adoption of mandatory healthcare safety date reporting requirements for healthcare facilities in Texas. As the program expanded and evolved in response to the ever-present need for high quality, safe healthcare in Texas, the Healthcare Safety Unit was established.
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Our Mission
The Healthcare Safety Unit (HSU) was created to protect Texans from infectious diseases and harmful events in healthcare. HSU is responsible for mandated and timely healthcare infection control and preventable adverse event response, reporting, and record-keeping to improve patient outcomes and reduce expenditures. Facilities under HSU’s purview include all Texas adult and pediatric hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, long-term and acute care facilities, dental and dialysis clinics.
The Texas Healthcare Safety Plan
The Texas Healthcare Safety Plan 2025-2026 outlines the vision, mission, values, and responsibilities of each team within HSU. The plan further defines HSU priorities for the next two years and the strategies to increase and sustain infection prevention and control (IPC) expertise for Local Health Departments (LHDs) and healthcare facilities in Texas.
The plan will be reviewed and renewed periodically (every one to two years) to reflect HSU continuous effort in Healthcare-Associated Infection (HAI) prevention and control practices, evolving health priorities, and surveillance.
Get in Touch
Phone
512-776-7676
Fax
512-776-7253
Mailing Address
Mail Code 4559 PO BOX 149347
1100 West 49th Street
Suite T202
Austin, TX 78714
HAIData@dshs.texas.gov
For questions related to the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) protocol, data management, validation, and quality improvement.
HSUTraining@dshs.texas.gov
For questions related to infection prevention and control trainings, educational resources, and learning opportunities.
AntibioticStewardship@dshs.texas.gov
For questions related to the Antimicrobial Stewardship Team at DSHS.
HAIOutbreak@dshs.texas.gov
For questions related to healthcare-associated infection (HAI) outbreaks and investigations.
HAITexas@dshs.texas.gov
For questions related to state mandated healthcare-associated infections (HAI) reporting for general hospitals, assistance with Texas Healthcare Safety Network (TxHSN) troubleshooting or guidance, assistance with certain National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) questions, or to contact the Healthcare Safety Unit’s training team.
ICAR@dshs.texas.gov
For questions related to infection prevention and control guidance, assistance with management of healthcare outbreaks, requests for infection control assessments (ICARs) in healthcare facilities, or to contact DSHS Healthcare-Associated Infections Epidemiologists.
MDROTexas@dshs.texas.gov
For questions related to multidrug resistant organisms (MDRO) that are reportable in Texas, alerts for non-reportable antimicrobial resistant organisms, or assistance with requests for the antimicrobial resistant laboratory network (AR Lab Network).
PAETexas@dshs.texas.gov
For questions related to reporting preventable adverse events (PAEs) for general hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers or assistance with the Texas Healthcare Safety Network (TxHSN).
Sharps.Injury@dshs.texas.gov
For questions or guidance related to reporting needlestick or other sharp instrument injuries.