H. B. 2180


(By Delegates Hamilton, Hrutkay, Hatfield and Perdue)

[Introduced February 10, 2005; referred to the

Committee on Health and Human Resources then the Judiciary.]





A BILL to amend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new article, designated §16-5U-1 , §16-5U-2 , §16-5U-3 , §16-5U-4 , §16-5U-5 , §16-5U-6 and §16-5U-7, all relating to establishing the Hospital Infection Disclosure Act requiring hospitals to disclose hospital-infection rates for the public.

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 §16-5U-1 , §16-5U-2 , §16-5U-3 , §16-5U-4 , §16-5U-5 , §16-5U-6 and §16-5U-7 , all to read as follows:

ARTICLE 5U. HOSPITAL INFECTIONS DISCLOSURE ACT.
§16-5U-1. Short title.

This article may be cited as the "Hospital Infections Disclosure Act."
 §16-5U-2. Definitions.
For purposes of this article:
(a) "Bureau" means the Bureau of Public Health.
(b) "Hospital" means a health care facility licensed under article five, chapter sixteen of this code.
(c) "Hospital-acquired infection" means an infection acquired by a patient during hospital care which was not present or incubating at admission.
§16-5U-3 . Hospital reports.
(a) Individual hospitals shall collect data on hospital-acquired infection rates for the specific clinical procedures determined by the Bureau by rule, including, but not limited to, the following categories: (1) Class I surgical site infection; (2) ventilator-associated pneumonia; (3) central line-related bloodstream infections; (4) urinary tract infections; and (5) other categories as provided under subdivision (d) of this section.
(b)(1) Hospitals shall submit quarterly reports on their hospital-acquired infection rates to the Bureau. Quarterly reports shall be submitted, in a format set forth in rules adopted by the Bureau, to the Bureau by the thirtieth day of April, the thirty-first day of July, the thirty-first day of October, and the thirty-first day of January each year for the previous quarter. Data in quarterly reports must cover a period ending not earlier than one month prior to submission of the report. Quarterly reports shall be made available to the public at each hospital and through the Bureau. The first quarterly report is due the thirty-first day of January, two thousand six.
(2) If the hospital is a division or subsidiary of another entity that owns or operates other hospitals or related organizations, the quarterly report shall be for the specific division or subsidiary and not for the other entity.
(c)(1) The Commissioner of the Bureau shall appoint an advisory committee, including representatives from public and private hospitals, including hospital infection control departments, direct care nursing staff, physicians, epidemiologists with expertise in hospital-acquired infections, academic researchers, consumer organizations, health insurers, health maintenance organizations, organized labor and purchasers of health insurance, such as employers. The advisory committee shall have a majority of members representing interests other than hospitals.
(2) The advisory committee shall assist the Bureau in the development of all aspects of the Bureau's methodology for collecting, analyzing and disclosing the information collected under this article, including collection methods, formatting and methods and means for release and dissemination.
(3) In developing the methodology for collecting and analyzing the infection rate data, the Bureau and advisory committee shall consider existing methodologies and systems for data collection, such as the centers for disease control's national nosocomial infection surveillance program, however, the Bureau's discretion to adopt a methodology may not be limited or restricted to any existing methodology or system. The data collection and analysis methodology shall be disclosed to the public prior to any public disclosure of hospital-acquired infection rates.
(4) The Bureau and the advisory committee shall evaluate on a regular basis the quality and accuracy of hospital information reported under this article and the data collection, analysis and dissemination methodologies.
(d) The Bureau may, after consultation with the advisory committee, require hospitals to collect data on hospital-acquired infection rates in categories additional to those set forth in subsection (a) of this section.
§16-5U-4. Bureau reports.
(a) The Bureau shall annually submit to the Legislature a report summarizing the hospital quarterly reports and shall publish the annual report on its website. The first annual report shall be submitted and published in January, two thousand eight. The Bureau may issue quarterly informational bulletins at its discretion, summarizing all or part of the information submitted in the hospital quarterly reports.
(b) All reports issued by the Bureau shall be severity adjusted.
(c) The annual report shall compare the severity-adjusted hospital-acquired infection rates, collected under section three of this article, for each individual hospital in the State. The Bureau, in consultation with the advisory committee, shall make this comparison as easy to comprehend as possible. The report shall also include an executive summary, written in plain language, that shall include, but not be limited to, a discussion of findings, conclusions and trends concerning the overall state of hospital-acquired infections in the State, including a comparison to prior years. The report may include policy recommendations, as appropriate.
(d) The Bureau shall publicize the report and its availability as widely as practical to interested parties, including, but not limited to, hospitals, providers, media organizations, health insurers, health maintenance organizations, purchasers of health insurance, organized labor, consumer or patient advocacy groups and individual consumers. The annual report shall be made available to any person upon request.
(e) No hospital report or Bureau disclosure may contain information identifying a patient, employee or licensed health care professional in connection with a specific infection incident.
§16-5U-5. Privacy.
It is the expressed intent of the Legislature that a patient's right of confidentiality may not be violated in any manner. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, patient social security numbers and any other information that could be used to identify an individual patient may not be released.
§16-5U-6. Penalties.
A determination that a hospital has violated the provisions of this article may result in any of the following:
(a) Termination of licensure or other sanctions relating to licensure under article five-b, chapter sixteen of this code; and
(b) A civil penalty of up to one thousand dollars per day per violation for each day the hospital is in violation of this article.
§16-5U-7. Regulatory oversight.
The Bureau shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with this article as a condition of licensure under article five-b, chapter sixteen of this code, and shall enforce compliance according to the provisions of article five-b, chapter sixteen of this code.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish the Hospital Infections Disclosure Act which requires hospitals to disclose hospital-infection rates for the public.

This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.