Bill > A1950

This bill, known as the "Stop Sepsis Act," mandates that all licensed general and special hospitals in New Jersey must establish, implement, and regularly update evidence-based protocols for the early recognition and treatment of sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock, which is a life-threatening condition caused by the body's overwhelming response to infection. These protocols must cover adult, geriatric, obstetric, and pediatric patients, and include specific processes for screening, identifying patients for treatment, excluding those not appropriate for the protocols (like those in hospice care), and providing guidelines for treatment, infection source identification, and early antibiotic administration. Hospitals are also required to train all clinical staff involved in sepsis care on these protocols and provide updated training when protocols change, with the state Department of Health offering educational opportunities. Furthermore, hospitals must collect and use quality measures to assess their adherence to these sepsis protocols for internal improvement, and the Commissioner of Health will compile a publicly available report card detailing risk-adjusted quality measures related to sepsis, including mortality rates and length of stay for surgical and non-surgical cases, as well as data on patients discharged to hospice. The bill also prohibits third-party payors and health plans from overriding a treating provider's clinical judgment regarding sepsis diagnosis and treatment. Finally, it amends existing law to require hospitals to report infection rates in a transparent, clinically valid format that accounts for patient and facility factors, using a federal surveillance system.