Senate Bill No. 510
(By Senators Hunter and Foster)
____________
[Introduced March 10, 2005; referred to the Committee
on Health and Human Resources.]
____________
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated
§16-3D-1
,
§16-3D-2,
§16-3D-3
,
§16-3D-4
and
§16-3D-5
, all relating to voluntary
control and prevention of infections in hospitals, ambulatory
surgical centers and other health care facilities generally;
setting forth legislative findings and purposes; defining
certain terms; providing for the appointment of an Infection
Control Advisory Panel; and providing for the responsibilities
and functions of the Advisory Panel.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated
§16-3D-1
,
§16-3D-2,
§16-3D-3
,
§16-3D-4
and
§16-3D-5
, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3D. GOVERNOR'S ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON CONTROL AND
PREVENTION OF INFECTIONS IN HOSPITALS, AMBULATORY SURGICAL CENTERS AND OTHER HEALTH
CARE FACILITIES.
§16-3D-1. Legislative findings; purpose.
The Legislature finds that h
ospital-acquired infections affect
approximately two million persons annually
in the United States.
The Institute of Medicine reports that preventable adverse patient
events, including hospital-acquired infections, are responsible for
more than forty-four thousand deaths annually. To ensure that
hospital-acquired infections in this state are monitored and
prevented, it is necessary to develop a
voluntary program within
the West Virginia Bureau of Public Health to monitor and prevent
the incidence of
infections acquired in hospitals and other similar
health care facilities in this state.
Therefore, it is essential to the health and well-being of the
citizens of this state, that hospitals and other similar health
care facilities participate in reporting infection incidence rates
in order to guide prevention efforts.
The purpose of this article is to decrease the incidence of
infection within health care facilities in this state.
§16-3D-2.
Citation of article.
This article shall be known and may be cited as the "West
Virginia Infection Control Act of 2005."
§16-3D-3.
Definitions.
As used in this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(1) "Advisory panel," the infection control advisory panel
created by section five of this article.
(2) "Antibiogram," a record of the resistance of microbes to
various antibiotics;
(3) "Antimicrobial," the ability of an agent to destroy or
prevent the development of pathogenic action of a microorganism;
(4) "Bureau of Public Health", the Bureau of Public Health.
(5) "Charge data," information submitted by health care
providers on current charges for leading procedures and diagnoses;
(6) "Charges by payer," information submitted by hospitals on
amount billed to Medicare, Medicaid, other government sources and
all nongovernment sources combined as one data element;
(7) "Bureau of Public Health," the Bureau of Public Health;
(8) "Financial data," information submitted by hospitals drawn
from financial statements which includes the balance sheet, income
statement, charity care and bad debt and charges by payer, prepared
in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;
(9) "Health care provider," hospitals and ambulatory surgical
centers;
(10) "Nosocomial infection," as defined by the National
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and applied to
infections within hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, and other facilities;
(11) "Nosocomial infection incidence rate," a risk-adjusted
measurement of new cases of nosocomial infections by procedure or
device within a population over a given period of time, with such
measurements defined by rule of the Bureau of Public Health for use
by all hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, and other facilities
in complying with the requirements of the West Virginia Nosocomial
Infection Control Act of 2005;
(12) "Other facility," a type of facility determined to be a
source of infections and designated by rule of the Bureau of Public
Health.
(13) "Patient abstract data," data submitted by hospitals
which includes, but is not limited to, date of birth, sex, race,
zip code, county of residence, admission date, discharge date,
principal and other diagnoses, including external causes, principal
and other procedures, procedure dates, total billed charges,
disposition of the patient and expected source of payment with
sources categorized according to Medicare, Medicaid, other
government, workers' compensation, all commercial payors coded with
a common code, self-pay, no charge and other.
§16-3D-4.
Infection Control Advisory Panel (ICAP).
Within three months of the effective date of this article, the
Governor shall appoint the members of the Infection Control
Advisory Panel (ICAP) who shall serve at the will and pleasure of the Governor and shall include:
(1) One public member;
(2) Two board-certified or board-eligible licensed physicians
who are affiliated with a West Virginia hospital or medical school,
active members of the Society for Health Care Epidemiology of
America, and have demonstrated interest and expertise in health
facility infection control;
(3) One licensed physician who is active in the practice of
medicine in West Virginia and who holds medical staff privileges at
a West Virginia hospital;
(4) Three infection control practitioners certified by the
Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, at least
two of whom shall be practicing in a rural hospital or setting and
at least two of whom shall be licensed registered professional
nurses.
(5) A medical statistician with an advanced degree in the
specialty; and
(6) A clinical microbiologist with an advanced degree in the
specialty;
(7) The Commissioner of the Bureau of Public Health who shall
serve as the chair and ex officio nonvoting member of the panel.
Except for the Commissioner, panel members shall be reimbursed
from funds appropriated to the Bureau of Public Health for their
reasonable expenses and fees as required for the performance of their duties.
§16-3D-5.
Infection Control Advisory Panel to develop criteria
for implementation of voluntary reporting.
Not later than the fifteenth day of October, two thousand
five, and at least monthly thereafter, the Infection Control
Advisory Panel (ICAP) shall meet in offices provided by the
Commissioner of the Bureau of Public Health for the purposes of
organizing and developing a voluntary infection control system to
decrease the incidence of infection within health care facilities
in this state.
In order to develop the voluntary infection control system,
ICAP shall:
(1) Identify those health care facilities willing to
voluntarily participate in reporting of the incidence of infection;
(2) Propose procedures and policies for implementing a
voluntary infection reporting program that includes the terms
defined in section three of this article and including policies and
procedures to protect confidentiality of patient and facility
privacy and prohibiting use of information for any other purpose;
(3) Pursue the recommendations of the Center For Disease
Control to reduce the incidence of health facility infections; and,
(4) Recommend legislation to the Governor and the Legislature
as may be needed to implement the provisions of this article.
In order to carry out its responsibilities, ICAP may call upon the Commissioner of the Division of Public Health and his or her
designees to facilitate the development of information, coordinate
meetings and conferences with affected health care providers, and
provide the necessary staff support as may be required by ICAP.
ICAP shall develop and provide a report to the Governor and
the Legislature, along with proposed legislation, to implement the
provisions of this article, on the first day of the regular session
of the Legislature in two thousand six, and every year thereafter,
detailing the progress being made to reduce the incidence of
infection in health care facilities in this state.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish a
voluntary
program to control and prevent infections in hospitals, ambulatory
surgical centers and other health care facilities in this state.
The bill provides for the appointment of an infection control
advisory panel and along with the Bureau of Public Health is
responsible for developing and implementing the program.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
Email
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
