Several entities have instituted mandatory reporting in their jurisdictions. These efforts are consistent with prior recommendations by the Academy of Medicine for mandatory reporting[1].
Reduced mortality as compared to controlled states. Approximately half of patients in control states were accrued after announcement of plans for SEP-1 but all patients were included before implementation of SEP-1[6]
Mandatory reporting of sepsis quality measures, "SEP-1" by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was announced 08/2014 and implemented in 10/01/2015 as a value based purchase with the possibility of financial penalties[8][9][2]. Variations in hospital mortality contributed to the rationale for SEP-1[10]. As of 2017, 87% of eligible hospitals reported compliance measures with variation in rates of compliance[11].
Concerns about the reporting is the complexity of determining compliance as the documentation for chart reviews if 120 pages and may require 2-3 hours per chart to review[2]. The SEP-1 rule has been criticized for focusing on processes of care that are hard to measure rather than more easily measured rates and outcomes[2]. As an example, abstractions of clinical charts usually disagree over determining "time zero"[12].
Related is the voluntary Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) initiative in 2013[3]. After the first 9 months of the BPCI, 88 of 2918 eligible hospitals participated in BPCI for sepsis[4]. No difference was found in the quality or costs of sepsis care[4].
In 2013, the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) began mandatory state-wide reporting of quality measures (Rory's Regulations)[5][13][14]. This was in part due to the death in 2012 of Rory Staunton. Implementation was based on SEPSIS-2[7]. Subsequent reduction in mortality was associated with increased compliance to process measures[14]. The benefit may be specifically linked to speed of antibiotic administration; however, study of fluids examined when fluids were finished and not when fluids were started[15].
In a controlled study, the improvement of care in New York exceeded the improvement in control states that were only under the influence of CMS pressure[6].
↑Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Quality of Health Care in America; Kohn LT, Corrigan JM, Donaldson MS, editors. To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2000. 5, Error Reporting Systems. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK225170/