119-s1929

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1929 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 1929

 To establish programs to reduce rates of sepsis.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 June 3, 2025

 Mr. Schumer (for himself, Ms. Collins, and Mr. Kim) 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 
 diagnosed with sepsis annually and 350,000 individuals in the 
 United States are killed by sepsis each year.

    (2) 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.

    (3) 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.

    (4) 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.

    (5) According to the Centers for Disease Control and 
 Prevention, 80 percent of sepsis cases begin outside of the 
 hospital.

    (6) Most sepsis fatalities are preventable with early 
 recognition, diagnosis, and treatment.

    (7) 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.

    (8) 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 and 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 2026 through 2030.''.
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