Washington, D.C.—The nation’s largest long term and post-acute care provider association is lending its voice to White House efforts to come up with more responsible ways to use (and to preserve) antibiotics.

Len Russ, chairman of the board of the American Health Care Association and a New York-based provider, will attend a forum here on Tuesday convened by President Obama. Last year, Obama signed an executive order designed to help stop the growth and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. He has also put the public’s money where his mouth is: The president’s fiscal 2016 budget proposed doubling the amount of federal dollars spent on chasing down lethal microbes, to $1.2 billion.

Tuesday morning’s forum is designed to help bring federal officials and health care leaders together in the hopes that there can be some kind of national framework on ways to prevent detect and control resistant disease strains. Russ says he’s proud that his sector is one of the leading fronts in the war against 21st century superbugs.

“I’ve seen firsthand the serious consequences to people’s health when these life-saving medicines are used irresponsibly,” Russ tells Provider in an email. “That’s why I’m happy that AHCA has included this area as part of our nationwide Quality Initiative. It lets us take a methodical, but still comprehensive, view of where and when to use antibiotics and in what amounts. That’s going to save a lot of lives, and improve even more lives, moving forward.”

Despite more than a half century of progress against lethal germs, new strains of old, microbial nemeses have come roaring back with a vengeance. Infections remain one of the leading causes of death, disease, and hospitalizations of people in nursing centers and assisted living communities, AHCA Senior Vice President David Gifford, MD, says.

AHCA and its sister organization, the National Center for Assisted Living, have written infection controls into their ambitious quality goals, part of which aim to reduce needless hospital trips for residents in long term and post-acute care.