H.R. 7116

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7116 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7116

To establish programs to reduce rates of sepsis.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 15, 2026

Mr. Norcross (for himself and Mr. Kean) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To establish programs to reduce rates of sepsis.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Securing Enhanced Programs, Systems, 
and Initiatives for Sepsis Act'' or the ``SEPSIS Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds as follows:
(1) 1,700,000 individuals in the United States are 
diagnosed with sepsis annually and 350,000 individuals in the 
United States are killed by sepsis each year.
(2) There is a need for increased Federal investment in 
research related to sepsis to build on research supported by 
the National Institutes of Health, including research with a 
pediatric focus supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver 
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
(3) The infectious disease workforce, which plays a key 
role in reducing the burden of sepsis, needs additional support 
to recruit and retain health care professionals engaged in 
infection prevention and related patient care.
(4) Sepsis is one of the most expensive conditions to treat 
in hospitals in the United States, with high spending 
compounded by frequent hospital re-admissions, including 1 in 5 
patient re-admissions within 30 days of discharge and 1 in 3 
patient re-admissions within 180 days of discharge.
(5) According to the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention, 80 percent of sepsis cases begin outside of the 
hospital.
(6) Most sepsis fatalities are preventable with early 
recognition, diagnosis, and treatment.
(7) The sepsis protocols for hospitals in New York State, 
called ``Rory's Regulations'' for Rory Staunton who died from 
preventable, treatable sepsis at 12 years of age, have been 
proven to save lives through rapid identification and treatment 
of sepsis.
(8) Providers and public health experts should study and 
learn from Rory's Regulations to find ways to end preventable 
deaths from sepsis on a national scale.

SEC. 3. SEPSIS PROGRAMS.

Title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 241 et seq.) 
is amended by inserting after section 317V the following:

``SEC. 317W. SEPSIS PROGRAMS.

``(a) In General.--The Secretary, acting through the Director of 
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (referred to in this 
section as the `Director'), shall maintain a sepsis team for purposes 
of--
``(1) leading an education campaign on best practices for 
addressing sepsis in hospitals, such as the practices outlined 
in the Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements set forth by the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
``(2) improving data collection on pediatric sepsis;
``(3) sharing information with the Administrator of the 
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to inform the 
development and implementation of sepsis quality measures to 
improve outcomes for patients;
``(4) updating data elements with respect to sepsis used by 
the United States Core Data for Interoperability, in 
coordination with the heads of other relevant agencies and 
offices of the Department of Health and Human Services, 
including the National Coordinator for Health Information 
Technology and the Director of the Office of Public Health 
Data, Surveillance, and Technology;
``(5) facilitating efforts across the Department of Health 
and Human Services to develop outcome measures with respect to 
sepsis; and
``(6) carrying out other activities related to sepsis, as 
the Director determines appropriate.
``(b) Report on Development of Outcome Measures.--Not later than 1 
year after the date of enactment of the Securing Enhanced Programs, 
Systems, and Initiatives for Sepsis Act, the Director shall submit to 
the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate 
and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 
Representatives a report on the development and implementation of 
outcome measures for sepsis, for both adult and pediatric populations, 
that take into consideration the social and clinical factors that 
affect the likelihood a patient will develop sepsis.
``(c) Annual Briefing on Sepsis Activities.--Not later than 1 year 
after the date of enactment of the Securing Enhanced Programs, Systems, 
and Initiatives for Sepsis Act, and annually thereafter, the Director 
shall present to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 
House of Representatives a briefing on--
``(1) aggregate data on the adoption by hospitals of sepsis 
best practices, including the Hospital Sepsis Program Core 
Elements, as reported by hospitals to the Director, using the 
hospital sepsis program assessment tool of the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention and State sepsis reporting 
requirements;
``(2) rates of pediatric sepsis and efforts to reduce cases 
of pediatric sepsis, including how the Hospital Sepsis Program 
Core Elements can be effective at supporting efforts to reduce 
cases of pediatric sepsis;
``(3) the coordination of sepsis reduction efforts across 
the Department of Health and Human Services;
``(4) in partnership with the Director of the Agency for 
Healthcare Research and Quality, an evaluation of the impact of 
the Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements on quality of care 
for patients;
``(5) data sharing from the National Healthcare Safety 
Network with other agencies and offices of the Department of 
Health and Human Services with respect to sepsis; and
``(6) a report on the latest datasets on sepsis, as 
provided to the Director by the Director of the Agency for 
Healthcare Research and Quality.
``(d) Honor Roll Program.--
``(1) In general.--The Secretary may establish a voluntary 
program for recognizing hospitals that maintain effective 
sepsis programs or improve their sepsis programs over time, 
including in the areas of early detection, effective treatment, 
and overall progress in the reduction of the burden of sepsis.
``(2) Applications; selection.--In carrying out paragraph 
(1), the Secretary shall--
``(A) solicit applications from hospitals; and
``(B) establish public benchmarks by which the 
Secretary will select hospitals for recognition under 
such paragraph, including with respect to each area 
described in such paragraph.
``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section, 
there are authorized to be appropriated $20,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2026 through 2030.''.
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