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Introduced Version House Bill 4418 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
H. B. 4418


(By Delegates Perdue, Hatfield, Long, Boggs,

Staggers, Varner and Hamilton)

[Introduced February 5, 2008; 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 section, designated §16-5B-17, relating to healthcare-associated infection reporting, establishing an advisory panel, establishing their responsibilities, establishing limitations on use of information, establishing that all hospitals shall report and establishing that the Health Care Authority will make the data available to the public and to Bureau of Public Health and establishing an internal implementation date.

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 section, designated §16-5B-17, to read as follows:

ARTICLE 5B. HOSPITALS AND SIMILAR INSTITUTIONS.

§16-5B-17. Healthcare-associated infection reporting.

(a) The Legislature declares that healthcare-associated infections have been determined to occur in approximately two million people each year and ninety-nine thousand associated deaths occur annually leading to costs of twenty billion dollars each year nationally. Infections can occur as a result of relatively common procedures such as intravenous tube or catheter use. Drug resistant infections have become a growing concern both nationally and within the state. Publicizing infection rates encourages hospitals to take measures to prevent the spread of infections by increasing accountability and helping pinpoint effective prevention guidelines.

(b) As used in this section, the following words have the following meanings:

(1) "CDC" means The Center for Disease Control and Prevention;

(2) "NHSN" means the National Healthcare Safety Network, a surveillance system created by the CDC for accumulating exchanging and integrating relevant information on infectious adverse events associated with healthcare delivery.

(3) "Hospitals" include facilities licensed under hospital licensing laws set forth in this article.

(c) An Infection Control Advisory Panel is created in the West Virginia Health Care Authority to provide guidance and oversight in implementing this section. The advisory panel shall consist of the following members:

(1) Two board-certified or board-eligible physicians who are affiliated with a West Virginia hospital or medical school and are active members of the Society for Health Care Epidemiology of America and who have demonstrated an interest in infection control:

(2)One licensed physician who maintains privileges in a West Virginia hospital;

(3)Three infection control practitioners who are certified by the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, who work in the area of infection control, who represent both rural and urban practice and two of whom are registered professional nurses;

(4) A medical statistician with an advanced degree in the specialty;

(5) A clinical microbiologist with an advanced degree in the specialty;

(6) The Director of the Division of Disease Surveillance and Disease Control in the Bureau for Public Health or a designee; and

(7) The director of the hospital program in the office of health facilities, licensure and certification in the Bureau for Public Health.

(d) The advisory panel shall:

(1) Provide guidance to hospitals in their collection of healthcare-associated infections;

(2) Provide evidence-based practices in the control and prevention of healthcare-associated infections;

(3) Establish reasonable goals to reduce the number of healthcare-associated infections;

(4) Develop plans for analyzing infection-related data from hospitals;

(5) Develop healthcare-associated advisories for hospital distribution;

(6) Review and recommend to the Health Care Authority the manner in which the reporting is made available to the public to assure that the public understands the meaning of the report; and

(7) Others as identified over time.

(e) Hospitals shall report information on healthcare-associated infections in the manner prescribed by the CDC National Healthcare Safety Network(NHSN) and this reporting standard shall be the reporting system of the hospitals in West Virginia. All hospitals shall report or a penalty of five thousand dollars shall be imposed per incident.

(f) The National Healthcare Safety Network shall provide the results of the collection and analysis of all hospital data to the West Virginia Health Care Authority for public availability and the Bureau for Public Health for consideration in their hospital oversight and epidemiology and disease surveillance responsibilities in West Virginia.

(g) Data collected and reported pursuant to this act may not be considered to establish standards of care for any purposes of
civil litigation in West Virginia nor shall data reported pursuant to this act by a specific hospital be utilized in any civil litigation brought in West Virginia against the reporting facility.
(h) The Health Care Authority shall report in January of each year beginning in the year two thousand eleven a summary of the results of the required reporting and the work of the advisory panel.

(i) Hospitals shall initiate this reporting requirement no later than the first day of July, two thousand nine.


NOTE: The purpose of the bill is to establish a statewide reporting system for hospitals to report their infection rates and to improve the incidence of infections in West Virginia hospitals.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.






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