[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5026 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 5026
To establish programs to reduce rates of sepsis.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 11, 2024
Mr. Schumer (for himself, Ms. Collins, and Mr. Casey) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish programs to reduce rates of sepsis.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Securing Enhanced Programs, Systems,
and Initiatives for Sepsis Act'' or the ``SEPSIS Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds as follows:
(1) 1,700,000 individuals in the United States are infected
by sepsis annually and 350,000 individuals in the United States
are killed by sepsis each year.
(2) Sepsis affects different groups of people unevenly,
with Black Americans twice as likely to die from it than non-
Hispanic White Americans.
(3) Disparities in the incidence and severity of, and
mortality attributable to, sepsis persist across race and
socioeconomic status.
(4) There is a need for increased Federal investment in
research related to sepsis to build on research supported by
the National Institutes of Health, including research with a
pediatric focus supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
(5) The infectious disease workforce, which plays a key
role in reducing the burden of sepsis, needs additional support
to recruit and retain health care professionals engaged in
infection prevention and related patient care.
(6) Sepsis is one of the most expensive conditions to treat
in hospitals in the United States, with high spending
compounded by frequent hospital re-admissions, including 1 in 5
patient re-admissions within 30 days of discharge and 1 in 3
patient re-admissions within 180 days of discharge.
(7) According to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 80 percent of sepsis cases begin outside of the
hospital.
(8) Most sepsis fatalities are preventable with early
recognition, diagnosis, and treatment.
(9) The sepsis protocols for hospitals in New York State,
called ``Rory's Regulations'' for Rory Staunton who died from
preventable, treatable sepsis at 12 years of age, have been
proven to save lives through rapid identification and treatment
of sepsis.
(10) Providers and public health experts should study and
learn from Rory's Regulations to find ways to end preventable
deaths from sepsis on a national scale.
SEC. 3. SEPSIS PROGRAMS.
Title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 241 et seq.)
is amended by inserting after section 317V the following:
``SEC. 317W. SEPSIS PROGRAMS.
``(a) In General.--The Secretary, acting through the Director of
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (referred to in this
section as the `Director'), shall maintain a sepsis team for purposes
of--
``(1) leading an education campaign on best practices for
addressing sepsis in hospitals, such as the practices outlined
in the Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements set forth by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
``(2) improving data collection on pediatric sepsis;
``(3) sharing information with the Administrator of the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to inform the
development and implementation of sepsis quality measures to
improve outcomes for patients;
``(4) updating data elements with respect to sepsis used by
the United States Core Data for Interoperability, in
coordination with the heads of other relevant agencies and
offices of the Department of Health and Human Services,
including the National Coordinator for Health Information
Technology, the Director of the Office of Public Health Data,
Surveillance, and Technology;
``(5) facilitating efforts across the Department of Health
and Human Services to develop outcome measures with respect to
sepsis; and
``(6) carrying out other activities related to sepsis, as
the Director determines appropriate.
``(b) Report on Development of Outcome Measures.--Not later than 1
year after the date of enactment of the Securing Enhanced Programs,
Systems, and Initiatives for Sepsis Act, the Director shall submit to
the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate
and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of
Representatives a report on the development and implementation of
outcome measures for sepsis, for both adult and pediatric populations,
that take into consideration the social and clinical factors that
affect the likelihood a patient will develop sepsis.
``(c) Annual Briefing on Sepsis Activities.--Not later than 1 year
after the date of enactment of the Securing Enhanced Programs, Systems,
and Initiatives for Sepsis Act, and annually thereafter, the Director
shall present to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the
House of Representatives a briefing on--
``(1) aggregate data on the adoption by hospitals of sepsis
best practices, including the Hospital Sepsis Program Core
Elements, as reported by hospitals to the Director, using the
hospital sepsis program assessment tool of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention and State sepsis reporting
requirements;
``(2) rates of pediatric sepsis and efforts to reduce cases
of pediatric sepsis, including how the Hospital Sepsis Program
Core Elements can be effective at supporting efforts to reduce
cases of pediatric sepsis;
``(3) the coordination of sepsis reduction efforts across
the Department of Health and Human Services;
``(4) in partnership with the Director of the Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality, an evaluation of the impact of
the Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements on quality of care
for patients;
``(5) data sharing from the National Healthcare Safety
Network with other agencies and offices of the Department of
Health and Human Services with respect to sepsis; and
``(6) a report on the latest datasets on sepsis, as
provided to the Director by the Director of the Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality.
``(d) Honor Roll Program.--
``(1) In general.--The Secretary may establish a voluntary
program for recognizing hospitals that maintain effective
sepsis programs or improve their sepsis programs over time,
including in the areas of early detection, effective treatment,
and overall progress in the reduction of the burden of sepsis.
``(2) Applications; selection.--In carrying out paragraph
(1), the Secretary shall--
``(A) solicit applications from hospitals; and
``(B) establish public benchmarks by which the
Secretary will select hospitals for recognition under
such paragraph, including with respect to each area
described in such paragraph.
``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section,
there are authorized to be appropriated $20,000,000 for each of fiscal
years 2025 through 2029.''.
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