II 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing Enhanced 

5 Programs, Systems, and Initiatives for Sepsis Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘SEPSIS Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds as follows: 

9 (1) 1,700,000 individuals in the United States 

10 are infected by sepsis annually and 350,000 individVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Sep 17, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5026.IS S5026

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1 uals in the United States are killed by sepsis each 

2 year. 

3 (2) Sepsis affects different groups of people un4 evenly, with Black Americans twice as likely to die 

5 from it than non-Hispanic White Americans. 

6 (3) Disparities in the incidence and severity of, 

7 and mortality attributable to, sepsis persist across 

8 race and socioeconomic status. 

9 (4) There is a need for increased Federal in10 vestment in research related to sepsis to build on re11 search supported by the National Institutes of 

12 Health, including research with a pediatric focus 

13 supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National 

14 Institute of Child Health and Human Development. 

15 (5) The infectious disease workforce, which 

16 plays a key role in reducing the burden of sepsis, 

17 needs additional support to recruit and retain health 

18 care professionals engaged in infection prevention 

19 and related patient care. 

20 (6) Sepsis is one of the most expensive condi21 tions to treat in hospitals in the United States, with 

22 high spending compounded by frequent hospital re23 admissions, including 1 in 5 patient re-admissions 

24 within 30 days of discharge and 1 in 3 patient re25 admissions within 180 days of discharge. 


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1 (7) According to the Centers for Disease Con2 trol and Prevention, 80 percent of sepsis cases begin 

3 outside of the hospital. 

4 (8) Most sepsis fatalities are preventable with 

5 early recognition, diagnosis, and treatment. 

6 (9) The sepsis protocols for hospitals in New 

7 York State, called ‘‘Rory’s Regulations’’ for Rory 

8 Staunton who died from preventable, treatable sepsis 

9 at 12 years of age, have been proven to save lives 

10 through rapid identification and treatment of sepsis. 

11 (10) Providers and public health experts should 

12 study and learn from Rory’s Regulations to find 

13 ways to end preventable deaths from sepsis on a na14 tional scale. 

15 SEC. 3. SEPSIS PROGRAMS. 

16 Title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 

17 241 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 317V 

18 the following: 

19 ‘‘SEC. 317W. SEPSIS PROGRAMS. 

20 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 

21 the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre22 vention (referred to in this section as the ‘Director’), shall 

23 maintain a sepsis team for purposes of— 

24 ‘‘(1) leading an education campaign on best 

25 practices for addressing sepsis in hospitals, such as 


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1 the practices outlined in the Hospital Sepsis Pro2 gram Core Elements set forth by the Centers for 

3 Disease Control and Prevention; 

4 ‘‘(2) improving data collection on pediatric sep5 sis; 

6 ‘‘(3) sharing information with the Adminis7 trator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Serv8 ices to inform the development and implementation 

9 of sepsis quality measures to improve outcomes for 

10 patients; 

11 ‘‘(4) updating data elements with respect to 

12 sepsis used by the United States Core Data for 

13 Interoperability, in coordination with the heads of 

14 other relevant agencies and offices of the Depart15 ment of Health and Human Services, including the 

16 National Coordinator for Health Information Tech17 nology, the Director of the Office of Public Health 

18 Data, Surveillance, and Technology; 

19 ‘‘(5) facilitating efforts across the Department 

20 of Health and Human Services to develop outcome 

21 measures with respect to sepsis; and 

22 ‘‘(6) carrying out other activities related to sep23 sis, as the Director determines appropriate. 

24 ‘‘(b) REPORT ON DEVELOPMENT OF OUTCOME

25 MEASURES.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Sep 17, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5026.IS S5026

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1 actment of the Securing Enhanced Programs, Systems, 

2 and Initiatives for Sepsis Act, the Director shall submit 

3 to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen4 sions of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and 

5 Commerce of the House of Representatives a report on 

6 the development and implementation of outcome measures 

7 for sepsis, for both adult and pediatric populations, that 

8 take into consideration the social and clinical factors that 

9 affect the likelihood a patient will develop sepsis. 

10 ‘‘(c) ANNUAL BRIEFING ON SEPSIS ACTIVITIES.— 

11 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the 

12 Securing Enhanced Programs, Systems, and Initiatives 

13 for Sepsis Act, and annually thereafter, the Director shall 

14 present to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 

15 and Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on Energy 

16 and Commerce of the House of Representatives a briefing 

17 on— 

18 ‘‘(1) aggregate data on the adoption by hos19 pitals of sepsis best practices, including the Hospital 

20 Sepsis Program Core Elements, as reported by hos21 pitals to the Director, using the hospital sepsis pro22 gram assessment tool of the Centers for Disease 

23 Control and Prevention and State sepsis reporting 

24 requirements; 


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1 ‘‘(2) rates of pediatric sepsis and efforts to re2 duce cases of pediatric sepsis, including how the 

3 Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements can be ef4 fective at supporting efforts to reduce cases of pedi5 atric sepsis; 

6 ‘‘(3) the coordination of sepsis reduction efforts 

7 across the Department of Health and Human Serv8 ices; 

9 ‘‘(4) in partnership with the Director of the 

10 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, an 

11 evaluation of the impact of the Hospital Sepsis Pro12 gram Core Elements on quality of care for patients; 

13 ‘‘(5) data sharing from the National Healthcare 

14 Safety Network with other agencies and offices of 

15 the Department of Health and Human Services with 

16 respect to sepsis; and 

17 ‘‘(6) a report on the latest datasets on sepsis, 

18 as provided to the Director by the Director of the 

19 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. 

20 ‘‘(d) HONOR ROLL PROGRAM.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may estab22 lish a voluntary program for recognizing hospitals 

23 that maintain effective sepsis programs or improve 

24 their sepsis programs over time, including in the 

25 areas of early detection, effective treatment, and 


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1 overall progress in the reduction of the burden of 

2 sepsis. 

3 ‘‘(2) APPLICATIONS; SELECTION.—In carrying 

4 out paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— 

5 ‘‘(A) solicit applications from hospitals; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(B) establish public benchmarks by which 

8 the Secretary will select hospitals for recogni9 tion under such paragraph, including with re10 spect to each area described in such paragraph. 

11 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 

12 carry out this section, there are authorized to be appro13 priated $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 

14 2029.’’. 

Æ 


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