Reps. Craig, Kelly Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Improve Patient Safety, Lower Health Care Costs
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Representative Angie Craig and Mike Kelly (R-PA) introduced their bipartisan Diagnostic Accuracy in Sepsis Act to improve patient safety and lower health care costs by reducing blood culture contamination. This common-sense legislation requires CMS to add a blood culture contamination rate measure to the Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction (HAC) Program.
Inaccurate sepsis tests due to blood culture contamination cost Medicare hundreds of millions of dollars annually, increase costs for patients, lead to unnecessary or not quick enough treatments and worsen the antimicrobial resistance crisis.
“Contaminated blood culture tests can lead to incorrect diagnoses and costly and unnecessary treatments,” said Rep. Craig. “That's why I’m proud to introduce this bipartisan bill with Rep. Kelly to help prevent false-positive sepsis results. Our legislation will keep patients safe while reducing health care costs.”
"Patient safety should always be the top priority, and this legislation does just that," Rep. Kelly said. "This legislation aims to improve both patient care and patient outcomes while ensuring thousands of Americans who receive this treatment each year can avoid false-positive sepsis test results."
"Sepsis Alliance applauds Reps. Kelly and Craig for introducing the Diagnostic Accuracy in Sepsis Act,” said Thomas Heymann, Sepsis Alliance President and CEO. "This legislation will help thousands of patients avoid false-positive sepsis test results, and the potential overuse of antimicrobials, due to preventable blood culture contamination. This legislation will incentivize hospitals to take the steps necessary to address this critical patient safety issue.”
“We know from the experience of hospitals across the country that best practice techniques together with innovative technology can lead to substantial reduction in the number of contaminated blood culture tests,” said Dr. Lucy Tompkins, an expert in the fields of Infectious Diseases, Clinical Microbiology, Epidemiology and Infection Prevention and Control. “Getting to zero percent contamination is a goal that the Diagnostic Accuracy in Sepsis Act will help us achieve, allowing us to avoid administering unnecessary and costly treatment. It is also a critically important step in support of continued antimicrobial stewardship efforts.”
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