A mix of HAI legislation in the Capitol hopper
With the rise of a new Democratic administration and a continuing Congressional majority, there is an increasing perception that the health care system could be subject to new federal regulations.
President-elect Barack Obama previously proposed hospital report card legislation and co-sponsored the CHAIR Act described below. Proposed bills focusing on infection prevention, which are at various stages of political review and revision within the Capitol, include the following:
• Community and Healthcare-Associated Infections Reduction Act of 2007 (CHAIR Act) ( S 2278): This bill would require the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop best practices guidelines for internal infection control plans to prevent, detect, control, and treat community and health care-associated infections at hospitals. It would further require hospitals to report information about community and health care-associated infections to the CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), which CDC would use to develop a national database of infection rates in hospitals. The legislation also would require the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator to submit a report to Congress on the feasibility of reducing health care-associated infection rates through a quality improvement payment program. In addition, the legislation would: authorize grants for a public awareness campaign related to community and health care-associated infections; authorize expansion of National Institutes of Health (NIH) efforts related to such infections; authorize an interagency working group on such infections; and require a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the prevalence of community and health care-associated infections and the quality and availability of data about such infections. Sponsors: Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL); Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL); Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY).
• Healthy Hospitals Act of 2007 (HR 1174): This bill would amend Medicare to require public reporting of health care-associated infections data by hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers. In addition, it would authorize the Secretary of the HHS to establish a pilot program under Medicare to provide financial incentives or grants to hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers that demonstrate a satisfactory reduction in the rate of occurrence (or elimination) of HAIs in the applicable hospital or ambulatory surgical center. Sponsors: Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA); Rep. Sue Wilkins Myrick (R-NC); Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-IA).
• MRSA Infection Prevention and Patient Protection Act (S 2525): This bill would require hospitals to report via the CDC's NHSN the number of cases of health care-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The bill would require incremental implementation starting with the intensive care units and other highrisk departments while establishing a process and timetable for extending the screening to all patients admitted to all hospitals. This would be done in consultation with the CDC. Sponsors: Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ); Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL).
• Worker Infection Prevention Act (S 2526): This bill would direct the Secretaries of Labor and Health and Human Services (HHS) to jointly develop and issue workplace standards, recommendations, and plans to protect healthcare workers and first responders, police, firefighters, emergency medical personnel, and other workers at risk of workplace exposure to infectious agents and drug-resistant infections, such as MRSA and pandemic influenza. Sponsors: Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ); Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL); Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA).
•Strategies to Address Antimicrobial Resistance Act (STAAR Act) (HR3697): This bill would combat antimicrobial resistance by:
1) reauthorizing the Antimicrobial Resistance Task Force, establishing an Advisory Board of outside experts and an Office of Antimicrobial Resistance reporting to the Secretary of HHS whose director will oversee government efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance;
2) creating a joint blueprint for antimicrobial resistance research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the CDC as well as the establishment of a Clinical Research and Public Health Network;
3) collecting available and relevant data to allow government to better assess the antimicrobial resistance problem including how antibiotic use triggers the development of resistance;
4) establishing demonstration projects to encourage more appropriate use of existing antibiotics. Sponsors: Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT); Rep. Mike Ferguson (R-NJ); Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA); Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).
With the rise of a new Democratic administration and a continuing Congressional majority, there is an increasing perception that the health care system could be subject to new federal regulations.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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