“To establish programs to reduce rates of sepsis.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section states congressional findings concerning sepsis, including that 1,700,000 individuals are diagnosed annually with 350,000 deaths; 80% of cases begin outside hospitals; most fatalities are preventable with early recognition, diagnosis, and treatment; and treatment costs are high due to frequent hospital readmissions (1 in 5 within 30 days and 1 in 3 within 180 days). The section also identifies needs for increased federal research investment (including pediatric focus), infectious disease workforce support, and national adoption of protocols modeled on New York State's “Rory’s Regulations.”
This section establishes a sepsis program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including a dedicated sepsis team to (1) lead an education campaign on hospital sepsis best practices such as the Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements; (2) improve pediatric sepsis data collection; (3) share information with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop sepsis quality measures; (4) update sepsis data elements in the United States Core Data for Interoperability; (5) facilitate sepsis outcome measures across the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); and (6) conduct related activities. (Sepsis is a life-threatening response to infection that requires rapid detection and treatment, particularly affecting vulnerable patients such as children in hospital settings.) The CDC director must submit to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, within one year of enactment, a report on developing sepsis outcome measures for adults and children that account for social and clinical risk factors; and provide annual briefings thereafter on hospital adoption of sepsis best practices, pediatric sepsis rates and reduction efforts, HHS coordination, program impacts evaluated with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, National Healthcare Safety Network data sharing, and sepsis datasets. This section further directs the Secretary to establish a voluntary honor roll recognizing hospitals for effective sepsis programs based on public benchmarks in early detection, treatment, and burden reduction; and authorizes $20 million for each of FY2026 through 2030.