What is the relation between cost and the effectiveness of hospital infection control?

The cost-effectiveness relation of infection control interventions is assessed from the analysis of qualitative, quantitative and cost results concerning patients and the healthcare facility. 
Infections cost lives, reduce life quality and productivity losses, and many times patients and their families can never recover from the harm suffered.

Infections also cost money:

Fixed costs represented by hospitalization costs, which include room and medical personnel.

Variable costs represented by diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, and surgical interventions.

Who pays hospital infections?

There is no doubt that the main victims are the patients, both who acquire a nosocomial infection and those who are waiting for a bed for their diagnosis and treatment and cannot access to it for its is being used by a patient who has been infected in the hospital.  

On the other hand, the health system bear huge costs caused by productivity losses resulting from the impossibility to use the beds in which patients infected during their hospitalization are being treated; by the payment of extra costs to treat such complication; by the dissemination of multi-resistant germs inside the facility, affecting other hospitalized patients; by malpractice lawsuits; and by discredit and negative publicity, among other reasons.
Numerous studies show that effective infection prevention saves lives and money.