TOPEKA — Groups representing Kansas hospitals and doctors on Thursday are scheduled to launch a major initiative aimed at reducing the number of patients who become infected or injured while hospitalized.

Officials said collateral benefits of the effort would be fewer hospital readmissions and lower health care costs.

The initiative is a project of the Kansas Healthcare Collaborative, which was founded by the Kansas Medical Society and the Kansas Hospital Association.

More than 100 nurses, physicians, and hospital administrators are expected to attend the group’s opening session, which is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. in the medical society’s conference center at 623 SW 10th St. in Topeka.

The initiative is part of a federal campaign to reduce infections and injuries by 40 percent and to cut hospital readmissions by 20 percent by the end of 2013. According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.7 million patients suffered hospital-acquired infections in the U.S. in 2002 with 98,987 associated deaths. According to CDC estimates, the infections cost hospitals nationwide perhaps as much as $45 billion a year.

“Our goal is to help improve the quality, safety, and affordability of health care by facilitating hospital team involvement in local and national patient safety programs and also providing technical assistance, mentoring and shared learning opportunities,” Kendra Tinsley, the collaborative’s executive director, said in a prepared statement.

The initiative calls for developing, testing and sharing best practices for reducing the following 10 hospital-acquired conditions:

• Adverse drug events,

• Catheter-associated urinary tract infections,

• Central line-associated blood stream infections,

• Injuries from falls and immobility,

• Obstetrical adverse events,

• Pressure ulcers, commonly known as bed sores,

• Surgical site infections,

• Venous thromboembolism also known as blood clots,

• Ventilator-associated pneumonia, and

• Preventable readmissions.

More than 70 percent of the state’s hospitals are participating in the initiative, officials said.