I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3104 

To require public reporting of health care-associated infections data by 

hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 26, 2009 

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To require public reporting of health care-associated infections data by hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers, 

and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Healthy Hospitals Act 

5 of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT FOR PUBLIC REPORTING OF 

2 HEALTH CARE-ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS 

3 DATA BY HOSPITALS AND AMBULATORY SUR4 GICAL CENTERS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part B of title II of the Public 

6 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 238 et seq.) is amended 

7 by adding at the end the following section: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 249. REQUIREMENT FOR PUBLIC REPORTING OF 

9 HEALTH CARE-ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS 

10 DATA BY HOSPITALS AND AMBULATORY SUR11 GICAL CENTERS. 

12 ‘‘(a) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—In accordance 

13 with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting 

14 protocols of the National Healthcare Safety Network, a 

15 hospital or ambulatory surgical center shall report to the 

16 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National 

17 Healthcare Safety Network the data on each health care18 associated infection occurring in the hospital or center and 

19 patient demographic information that may affect such 

20 data. 

21 ‘‘(b) PUBLIC POSTING OF DATA.—The Secretary 

22 shall promptly post, on the official public Internet site of 

23 the Department of Health and Human Services, the data 

24 reported under subsection (a). Such data shall be set forth 

25 in a manner that promotes the comparison of data on each 

26 health-care associated infection— 


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1 ‘‘(1) among hospitals and ambulatory surgical 

2 centers; and 

3 ‘‘(2) by patient demographic information. 

4 ‘‘(c) ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.—For each 

5 year for which data is reported under subsection (a) for 

6 any calendar quarter in the year, the Secretary shall sub7 mit to the Congress a report that summarizes each of the 

8 following: 

9 ‘‘(1) The number and types of each health care10 associated infection reported under subsection (a) in 

11 hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers during 

12 such year. 

13 ‘‘(2) Factors that contribute to the occurrence 

14 of each such infections. 

15 ‘‘(3) Based on the most recent information 

16 available to the Secretary on the composition of the 

17 professional staff of hospitals and ambulatory sur18 gical centers, the number of certified infection con19 trol professionals on the staff of hospitals and ambu20 latory surgical centers. 

21 ‘‘(4) The total increases or decreases in health 

22 care costs that resulted from increases or decreases 

23 in the rates of occurrence of each such infection dur24 ing such year. 


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1 ‘‘(5) Recommendations for best practices to 

2 eliminate the rates of occurrence of each such infec3 tion in hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers. 

4 ‘‘(d) CIVIL MONEY PENALTY.—The Secretary may 

5 impose a civil money penalty of not more than $5,000 for 

6 each knowing violation of subsection (a) by a hospital or 

7 ambulatory surgical center. A civil money penalty under 

8 this subsection shall be imposed and collected in the same 

9 manner as a civil money penalty under subsection (a) of 

10 section 1128A of the Social Security Act is imposed and 

11 collected under that section. 

12 ‘‘(e) NON-PREEMPTION OF STATE LAWS.—Nothing 

13 in this section shall be construed as preempting or other14 wise affecting any provision of State law relating to the 

15 disclosure of information on health care-associated infec16 tions or patient safety procedures for a hospital or ambu17 latory surgical center. 

18 ‘‘(f) HEALTH CARE-ASSOCIATED INFECTION.—For 

19 purposes of this section: 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘health care-asso21 ciated infection’ means an infection that develops in 

22 a patient who is cared for in any setting where 

23 health care is delivered (such as an acute care hos24 pital, chronic care facility, ambulatory clinic, dialysis 

25 center, surgical center, or home) and is related to reVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:07 Jul 02, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3104.IH H3104

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1 ceiving health care. In ambulatory and home set2 tings, such term applies to any infection that is as3 sociated with a medical or surgical intervention. 

4 ‘‘(2) RELATED TO RECEIVING HEALTH CARE.— 

5 The term ‘related to receiving health care’, with re6 spect to an infection, means that the infection was 

7 not incubating or present at the time the health care 

8 involved was provided. 

9 ‘‘(g) APPLICATION TO CRITICAL ACCESS HOS10 PITALS.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘hospital’ 

11 includes a critical access hospital, as defined in section 

12 1861(mm)(1) of the Social Security Act.’’. 

13 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—With respect to section 249 

14 of the Public Health Service Act (as added by subsection 

15 (a) of this section), the requirement under such section 

16 that hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers submit re17 ports takes effect upon the expiration of the one-year pe18 riod beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

19 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

20 It is the sense of the Congress that health care pro21 viders and facilities should take measures to reduce the 

22 rate of occurrence of health care-associated infections to 

23 zero, with respect to patients to whom such providers and 

24 facilities furnish services. 

Æ 


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