Bipartisan Bill Introduced to Improve Patient Safety and Lower Healthcare Costs

U.S. Representative Angie Craig and Mike Kelly introduced the Diagnostic Accuracy in Sepsis Act, a bipartisan bill aimed at reducing blood culture contamination and improving patient safety. The legislation requires the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to add a blood culture contamination rate measure to the Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction (HAC) Program. This measure is expected to reduce the number of false-positive sepsis test results, which can lead to unnecessary and costly treatments.

Key Takeaways:

• The Diagnostic Accuracy in Sepsis Act aims to reduce blood culture contamination, which costs Medicare hundreds of millions of dollars annually and leads to unnecessary treatments.
• Inaccurate sepsis tests due to blood culture contamination can worsen the antimicrobial resistance crisis.
• The bill requires CMS to add a blood culture contamination rate measure to the Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction (HAC) Program.
• By reducing blood culture contamination, the bill aims to keep patients safe while reducing healthcare costs.
• The legislation has the support of Sepsis Alliance and experts in the field of Infectious Diseases, Clinical Microbiology, and Infection Prevention and Control.
• Congressman Angie Craig stated that contaminated blood culture tests can lead to "incorrect diagnoses and costly and unnecessary treatments."
• Congressman Mike Kelly said that "patient safety should always be the top priority, and this legislation does just that."
• Sepsis Alliance President and CEO Thomas Heymann praised the legislation, saying it will "help thousands of patients avoid false-positive sepsis test results, and the potential overuse of antimicrobials, due to preventable blood culture contamination."
• Dr. Lucy Tompkins, an expert in Infectious Diseases, Clinical Microbiology, and Infection Prevention and Control, stated that "getting to zero percent contamination is a goal that the Diagnostic Accuracy in Sepsis Act will help us achieve, allowing us to avoid administering unnecessary and costly treatment."

Statistics:

• Hundreds of millions of dollars are lost annually due to inaccurate sepsis tests caused by blood culture contamination.
• Blood culture contamination rate measure will be added to the Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction (HAC) Program.
• The legislation aims to reduce the number of false-positive sepsis test results, which can lead to unnecessary and costly treatments.

Sources:

• United States House of Representatives -- Congresswoman Angie Craig (MN-02)
• Sepsis Alliance - Thomas Heymann, President and CEO
• Dr. Lucy Tompkins, expert in Infectious Diseases, Clinical Microbiology, and Infection Prevention and Control.