A new initiative announced in Maryland on Tuesday will create teams at most of the state’s hospitals to watch how often medical practitioners wash their hands.

Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown says the initiative is not meant to be a “gotcha” to get people in trouble. Rather, the idea is to raise awareness and gather information about which hospital staffs need to do a better job scrubbing up.

The aim is to cut down on health care-acquired infections, which represent an estimated $30 billion in additional health care costs nationally.

About $100,000 in federal stimulus money will be used to conduct the program.