2005-2006 Bill 799: Hospital-Acquired Infections Disclosure Act - South Carolina Legislature

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 116th Session, 2005-2006 3 4 S. 799 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Senator Mescher 10 Document Path: l:\council\bills\nbd\11742ac05.doc 11 Companion/Similar bill(s): 1318 12 13 Introduced in the Senate on April 27, 2005 14 Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Medical Affairs 15 16 Summary: Hospital-Acquired Infections Disclosure Act 17 18 19 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 20 21 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 22 4/27/2005 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-9 23 4/27/2005 Senate Referred to Committee on Medical Affairs SJ-9 24 25 26 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 27 28 4/27/2005 29 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO AMEND CHAPTER 7, TITLE 44, CODE OF LAWS OF 12 SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING ARTICLE 20 SO AS 13 TO ENACT THE “SOUTH CAROLINA 14 HOSPITAL-ACQUIRED INFECTIONS DISCLOSURE ACT”, 15 INCLUDING PROVISIONS TO REQUIRE HOSPITALS TO 16 REPORT PROCESS AND OUTCOME MEASURES TO THE 17 DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL 18 CONTROL; TO ESTABLISH REPORTING CRITERIA AND 19 PROCEDURES FOR COLLECTING AND ANALYZING THIS 20 DATA, TO ESTABLISH AN ADVISORY COUNCIL; TO 21 REQUIRE PUBLICATION OF AN ANNUAL REPORT 22 SUMMARIZING THE DATA COLLECTED; TO PROVIDE 23 CONFIDENTIALITY OF PATIENT IDENTIFYING 24 INFORMATION; AND TO PROVIDE PENALTIES. 25 26 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 27 Carolina: 28 29 SECTION 1. Chapter 7, Title 44 of the 1976 Code is amended by 30 adding: 31 32 “Article 20 33 34 South Carolina Hospital-Acquired Infections Disclosure Act 35 36 Section 44-7-2410. This article may be cited as the ‘South 37 Carolina Hospital-Acquired Infections Disclosure Act’. 38 39 Section 44-7-2420. For purposes of this article: 40 (1) ‘Department’ means the Department of Health and 41 Environmental Control.

1 [799] 1 1 (2) ‘Hospital’ means a facility organized and administered to 2 provide overnight medical or surgical care or nursing care of 3 illness, injury, or infirmity and may provide obstetrical care, and in 4 which all diagnoses, treatment, or care is administered by or under 5 the direction of persons currently licensed to practice medicine, 6 surgery, or osteopathy. 7 (3) ‘Hospital-acquired infection’ means a localized or systemic 8 condition, as defined by the national Centers for Disease Control 9 and Prevention, applied to infections within hospitals. 10 11 Section 44-7-2430. (A)(1) An individual hospital shall collect 12 data on appropriate process and outcome measures based on 13 facility type and shall phase in measures gradually to allow time 14 for facilities to adapt and to permit ongoing evaluation of data 15 validity. 16 (2) Processes may be chosen from the following: 17 (a) central-line insertion practices in critical care areas; 18 (b) surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis in targeted surgical 19 procedures. 20 (3) Outcomes may be chosen from the following: 21 (a) central-line related bloodstream infections in critical 22 care areas; 23 (b) targeted surgical site infections; 24 (c) other categories of hospital-acquired infections, as 25 determined by the department after consultation with the advisory 26 council. 27 (B)(1) Hospitals must file quarterly reports regarding 28 hospital-acquired infection rates with the department. Quarterly 29 reports must be filed with the department by April 30, July 31, 30 October 31, and January 31 each year. Data contained in a 31 quarterly report must cover a period ending not earlier than one 32 month prior to submission of the report. Quarterly reports must be 33 made available to the public at each hospital and through the 34 department. The first quarterly report must be filed with the 35 department by April 30, 2006. 36 (2) If the hospital is a division or subsidiary or another entity 37 that owns or operates other hospitals or related organizations, the 38 report must be for the specific division or subsidiary and not for 39 the other entity. 40 (C)(1) The commissioner of the department shall appoint an 41 advisory council composed of: 42 (a) two members of the public;

1 [799] 2 1 (b) two board-certified or board-eligible licensed 2 physicians, recommended by the Board of the South Carolina 3 Infectious Disease Society, who are active in health care infection 4 control; 5 (c) one physician licensed to practice medicine in this 6 State, recommend by the South Carolina Medical Association, who 7 holds medical privileges in this State and who holds medical staff 8 privileges at a South Carolina Hospital; 9 (d) four infection control practitioners, recommended by 10 the Board of the Palmetto Chapter of Association of Professionals 11 in Infection Control; 12 (e) a medical statistician with an advanced degree in this 13 specialty; 14 (f) two representatives from the South Carolina Hospital 15 Association, recommended by the South Carolina Hospital 16 Association, one of whom must be involved in national hospital 17 performance measures and one of whom must possess 18 administrative expertise; 19 (g) a representative from Carolina Medical Review, 20 recommended by the Carolina Medical Review; 21 (h) three employees of the department who shall serve as 22 ex officio members. 23 (2) The advisory council shall assist the department in the 24 development of all aspects of the department’s methodology for 25 collecting, analyzing, and disclosing the information collected 26 under this article, including collection methods, formatting, and 27 methods and means for release and dissemination of this 28 information. 29 (3) In developing the methodology for collecting and 30 analyzing these measurers, the department and the advisory 31 council shall utilize existing methodologies and systems for data 32 collection, such as the Centers for Disease Control’s National 33 Nosocomial Infection Surveillance Program, or its successor. 34 (4) The department and the advisory council shall evaluate 35 on a regular basis the quality and accuracy of hospital information 36 reported under this article, including the data collection, analysis, 37 and dissemination methodologies. 38 39 Section 44-7-2440. (A) A progress report must be submitted 40 one year after this article’s effective date. Thereafter, when the 41 methodology, measures, and other information required in Section 42 44-7-2430(C)(2) have been established, the department annually 43 shall submit to the General Assembly a report summarizing the

1 [799] 3 1 hospital data reports and shall publish an annual report on the 2 department’s website. The department may issue periodic 3 informational bulletins summarizing all or part of the information 4 submitted in the hospital reports. 5 (B) All reports issued by the department must be risk adjusted. 6 (C) The annual report shall compare the hospital measures, 7 collected pursuant to Section 44-7-2430, for each individual 8 hospital in the State. The department, in consultation with the 9 advisory council, shall make this comparison as easy to 10 comprehend as possible. The report also must include an 11 executive summary, written in plain language, that must include, 12 but is not limited to, a discussion of findings, conclusions, and 13 trends in the State, including a comparison to prior years when 14 data is available. 15 (D) The department shall publicize the report and its 16 availability as widely as practical to interested parties including, 17 but not limited to, hospitals, providers, media organizations, health 18 insurers, health maintenance organizations, purchasers of health 19 insurance, organized labor, consumer or patient advocacy groups, 20 and individual consumers. The annual report must be made 21 available to any person upon request. 22 (E) A hospital report or department disclosure must not contain 23 information identifying a patient, employee, or licensed health care 24 professional in connection with a specific infection incident. 25 26 Section 44-7-2450. It is the expressed intent of the General 27 Assembly that a patient’s right of confidentiality must not be 28 violated in any manner. Notwithstanding any other provision of 29 law, patient social security numbers and any other information that 30 could be used to identify an individual patient must not be 31 released. 32 33 Section 44-7-2460. If a provider fails to submit the health care 34 data required pursuant to this article or regulations promulgated 35 pursuant to this article, the department may assess a civil penalty 36 of up to five thousand dollars for each violation but the total fine 37 may not exceed ten thousand dollars. 38 39 Section 44-7-2470. Information reported by a hospital under this 40 article and analyses, plans, records, and reports obtained, prepared, 41 or compiled by a hospital under this article and all related 42 information and materials are subject to an absolute privilege and 43 may not be used in any form against the hospital, its agents,

1 [799] 4 1 employees, partners, assignees, or independent contractors in any 2 civil, criminal, or administrative proceeding, regardless of the 3 means by which a person came into possession of the information, 4 analysis, plan, record, report, or related information or material.” 5 6 SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the 7 Governor. 8 ----XX---- 9

1 [799] 5