Case Study: Denver Health achieves a 75% increase in hand hygiene compliance with CenTrak Enterprise Location Services

Denver Health Medical Center’s Hand Hygiene Compliance Rates Increased by 75% with Automated Location Monitoring Technology

Denver Health, a 500+ bed safety-net hospital, faced limited and biased hand-hygiene monitoring from Direct Observation—only a few hundred observations mostly during business hours and subject to the Hawthorne Effect. To address this, Denver Health partnered with CenTrak and deployed its Electronic Compliance Monitoring and Enterprise Location technology to provide continuous, objective measurement of hand-hygiene adherence.

CenTrak’s solution integrated sensors into dispensers and RTLS-enabled staff badges to capture 100% of wash events, deliver real-time audible reminders, and generate unit-, department- and individual-level reports without disrupting workflow. As a result, Denver Health’s hand‑hygiene adherence rose from ~40% to a sustained rate above 70% (a 75% increase), produced thousands of unbiased observations across all shifts, and provided compliance data to support infection-prevention and Joint Commission requirements.

Denver Health

Heather Young

Medical Director of Infection Prevention