Relates to hospital sepsis data

Summary of Provisions:

Section 1 of the bill would add new Public Health Law (PHL) § 2805-m (4) to deem the initial-period of collection of hospital sepsis data by the Department as a "pilot phase not exceed two years. During the pilot, the Department would: (1) ensure that all sepsis data included in public databases and reports is encrypted to prevent hospital identification; (2) provide each hospital with access only to the data submitted by that particular hospital; (3) consult with appropriate stakeholders regarding the public release of such data concerning hospital performance; and (4) provide regular reports to hospitals regarding the accuracy of the data submitted and give guidance for improving the accuracy of such data.

Section 1 of the bill would also provide that after the pilot phase, the sepsis data submitted by hospitals and compiled in a database by the Department would include hospital identifiers. The reports made publicly available from such data would also include hospital identifiers. The Department would also develop and post the data on the Department's web site.

Section 2 of this bill provides that the bill would take effect immediately.

Existing Law: PHL § 2805-m contains the confidentiality provisions governing information collected and maintained for purposes of medical, dental and podiatric malpractice prevention programs, investigations prior to granting or renewing privileges, and adverse event reporting via the New York Patient Occurrence and Tracking System.

10 NYCRR § 405.4(a)(7) requires hospitals to collect, use, and report quality measures related to the recognition and treatment of severe sepsis for purposes of internal quality improvement and for reporting to the Department.

Prior Legislative History: 2013-2014: S.6979 passed the Senate.

Statement in Support: The data collection and reporting requirements governing sepsis measures adopted in 2013 are novel both in New York State and throughout the nation. As such, the process for evaluating the data collected to assure completeness and accuracy, as well as the modeling necessary to develop fair and accurate risk-adjusted measures of mortality attributable to sepsis, are also novel and untested. The data collected for purposes of evaluating adherence to protocols for the prevention and treatment of severe sepsis and septic shock, as

well as data collected for the purpose of establishing risk adjusted mortality rates related to severe sepsis and septic shock, must be kept confidential until such time as it is determined that the data collected are complete and accurate and the calculations used to develop risk adjust mortality rates have been evaluated and tested and found to be accurate.

While it is possible for organizations to develop and publish mortality rates from sepsis by hospital using existing datasets now readily available through Health Data NY, the results are likely to be misleading since they would not accurately reflect important differences between patients treated at different hospitals. In addition, the data as currently available does not: (1) adequately adjust for the mix of patients with severe underlying conditions that dramatically increase the risk of death from sepsis, such as cancer and AIDS; (2) reliably adjust for sepsis severity; or (3) reflect patients who are not eligible for treatment due to advance directives. At the end of the proposed pilot phase of data collection, the clinical data collected and analyzed from hospitals would take those factors into consideration when calculating rates and comparing one hospital to another.

Accordingly, premature release of this data before thorough and careful analysis may improperly damage hospitals and mislead consumers. This legislation would allow for a pilot phase, lasting no more than two years, to complete data collection and develop appropriate analytics to ensure that the information ultimately made public is accurate and meaningful. The Department would publish this data after validation.

Budget Implications: This bill is not anticipated to have a fiscal impact on the State.

Effective Date: This bill would take effect immediately.