NY Pub Health L § 2819 (2021)
2021 New York Laws PBH - Public Health Article 28 - Hospitals 2819 - Hospital Acquired Infection Reporting.

§  2819. Hospital acquired infection reporting. 1. For the purposes of this section, "hospital acquired infection" shall mean any localized  or systemic patient condition that:  (a)  resulted  from  the presence of an infectious agent or agents, or its toxin  or  toxins  as  determined  by  clinical  examination  or  by laboratory testing; and  (b) was not found to be present or incubating at the time of admission unless the infection was related to a previous admission.   2.  (a)  Each  general  hospital  shall  maintain a program capable of identifying and tracking hospital acquired infections for the purpose of public reporting under this section and quality improvement.  (b) Such programs shall have the capacity to  identify  the  following elements:  the  specific  infectious  agents  or toxins and site of each infection; the clinical department or unit within the facility where the patient first became infected;  and  the  patient's  diagnoses  and  any relevant  specific  surgical,  medical or diagnostic procedure performed during the current admission.  (c) The department shall establish guidelines, definitions,  criteria, standards and coding for hospital identification, tracking and reporting of  hospital  acquired  infections  which  shall  be consistent with the recommendations of recognized centers of expertise in the identification and prevention  of  hospital  acquired  infections  including,  but  not limited  to  the  National Health Care Safety Network of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or its successor.  The  department  shall solicit and consider public comment prior to such establishment.  (d)  Hospitals  shall  be  initially  required  to identify, track and report hospital acquired infections that occur in critical care units to include surgical wound infections and central line  related  bloodstream infections.  (e) For hospital acquired infections for which the department requires tracking  and reporting as permitted in this section, hospitals shall be required to report a suspected or confirmed hospital-acquired  infection associated   with   another   hospital   to  the  originating  hospital. Documentation of reporting should be maintained for  a  minimum  of  six years.  (f) Subsequent to the initial requirements identified in paragraph (d) of  this  subdivision the department may, from time to time, require the tracking and reporting of other types of  hospital  acquired  infections (for   example,  ventilator  -  associated  pneumonias)  that  occur  in hospitals in consultation with technical advisors who are regionally  or nationally-recognized  experts  in  the  prevention,  identification and control of hospital acquired  infection  and  the  public  reporting  of performance data.   3. Each hospital shall regularly report to the department the hospital infection  data  it  has  collected. The department shall establish data collection and analytical methodologies that meet accepted standards for validity and reliability. The frequency of reporting shall  be  monthly, and  reports shall be submitted not more than sixty days after the close of the reporting period.   4. The commissioner shall  establish  a  state-wide  database  of  all reported  hospital  acquired  infection  information  for the purpose of supporting quality  improvement  and  infection  control  activities  in hospitals. The database shall be organized so that consumers, hospitals, healthcare  professionals,  purchasers and payers may compare individual hospital experience with that of other individual hospitals as  well  as regional and state-wide averages and, where available, national data.   5.  (a)  Subject  to  paragraph  (c) of this subdivision, on or before September first of each year the commissioner shall submit a  report  to  the   governor  and  the  legislature,  which  shall  simultaneously  be published in its entirety on the department's web site,  that  includes, but  is  not  limited to, hospital acquired infection rates adjusted for the  potential  differences in risk factors for each reporting hospital, an analysis of trends in the prevention and control of hospital acquired infection  rates  in  hospitals  across  the  state,  regional  and,  if available,  national comparisons for the purpose of comparing individual hospital performance, and a narrative describing lessons for safety  and quality  improvement  that  can be learned from leadership hospitals and programs.  (b) The commissioner shall consult with technical  advisors  who  have regionally  or  nationally  acknowledged expertise in the prevention and control of hospital acquired infection and infectious disease  in  order to  develop  the adjustment for potential differences in risk factors to be used for public reporting.  (c)(i) No later than July first,  two  thousand  six,  the  department shall  establish  a hospital acquired infection reporting system capable of  receiving  electronically  transmitted   reports   from   hospitals. Hospitals  shall  begin  to  submit  such  reports  as  directed  by the commissioner but in no case  later  than  January  first,  two  thousand seven.  (ii)  The  first  year  of data submission under this section shall be considered  the  "pilot  phase"  of  the  statewide  hospital   acquired infection reporting system. The purpose of the pilot phase is to ensure, by various means, including any audit process referred to in subdivision seven  of  this  section,  the  completeness  and  accuracy  of hospital acquired infection reporting by hospitals. For data reported during  the pilot  phase,  hospital identifiers shall be encrypted by the department in any and all  public  databases  and  reports.  The  department  shall provide  each  hospital with an encryption key for that hospital only to permit  access  to  its  own  performance  data  for  internal   quality improvement purposes.  (iii)  No  later  than one hundred eighty days after the conclusion of the pilot phase, the  department  shall  issue  a  report  to  hospitals assessing  the overall accuracy of the data submitted in the pilot phase and provide guidance for improving the  accuracy  of  hospital  acquired infection reporting. The department shall issue a report to the governor and  the  legislature assessing the overall completeness and accuracy of the data  submitted  by  hospitals  during  the  pilot  phase  and  make recommendations for the improvement or modification of hospital acquired infection  data  reporting  based  on  the  pilot phase as well as share lessons learned  in  prevention  of  hospital  acquired  infections.  No hospital  identifiable data shall be included in the pilot phase report, but aggregate or otherwise de-identified data may be included.  (iv) After the pilot phase is completed, all data submitted under this section and  compiled  in  the  statewide  hospital  acquired  infection database  established  herein  and  all public reports derived therefrom shall include hospital identifiers.   6. Subject to subdivision five of this section, a summary table, in  a format  designed to be easily understood by lay consumers, that includes individual facility  hospital  acquired  infection  rates  adjusted  for potential  differences  in  risk  factors  and comparisons with regional and/or state averages shall be developed and posted on the  department's web  site.  The  commissioner  shall  consult  with consumer and patient advocates and representatives of reporting facilities for the purpose of ensuring that such summary table report format is easily  understandable by  the public, and clearly and accurately portrays comparative hospital  performance  in  the  prevention  and  control  of   hospital   acquired infections.   7.  To  assure  the  accuracy  of  the self-reported hospital acquired infection data and to assure that public reporting fairly reflects  what actually is occurring in each hospital, the department shall develop and implement an audit process.   8.  For  the  purpose  of  ensuring  that hospitals have the resources needed for ongoing staff education and  training  in  hospital  acquired infection prevention and control, the department may make such grants to hospitals within amounts appropriated therefor.   9.   Individual   patient  identifying  information  reported  to  the department under this section shall  be  subject  to  paragraph  (j)  of subdivision  one of section two hundred six of this chapter. Regulations under this section shall include standards to assure the  protection  of patient  privacy  in  data collected and released under this section and standards for the publication and release of data  reported  under  this section.