Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) continue to be a considerable problem for hospitals and healthcare institutions that can adversely affect patient outcomes and impact the financial bottom lines. There are a number of strategies hospitals may implement for combating and controlling HAIs. Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of those HAIs that can cause significant morbidity and mortality. Minimizing or eliminating the potential for infection is one main driver for a hospital to consider and develop a screening/surveillance program. Other factors include pressures from states passing legislation requiring a MRSA program to be implemented and CMS's initiatives to prevent HAIs in general. The scope and clinical utility of a MRSA screening or active surveillance program is institution dependent and an assessment of the MRSA prevalence will help drive the decision to implement a formal Infection Control program. The identification of MRSA colonized patients is critical in directing Infection Control efforts towards limiting the risk of infection, and decreasing the likelihood that MRSA colonized patients become reservoirs of infection that could potentially be transmitted to other patients via the healthcare worker. In this presentation, we describe our successes and other lessons learned during our experiences in developing and implementing an active surveillance MRSA program in a large community healthcare system.