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Cummings Introduces Legislation to Curb the Spread of Deadly Infection |
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Washington, D.C.— Today, Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (MD-07), a senior member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, announced the introduction of the Community and Healthcare-Associated Infections Reduction (CHAIR) Act of 2007, H.R. 4214, legislation to improve the prevention, detection and treatment of deadly infectious disease. “Those of us responsible for the public’s health have been spurred to action, developing a comprehensive response to ward off infections, while working to arm individuals with the best information available to keep themselves safe,” Congressman Cummings said.
H.R. 4214 specifically addresses the growing concern surrounding the drug-resistant staph infection known as MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 19,000 patients with invasive MRSA died in 2005—more than the number who died from HIV/AIDS, Parkinson's, emphysema or homicide. Eighty-five percent of those MRSA cases originated from hospitals.
“I find it unconscionable that individuals are going into our hospitals for often routine procedures and acquiring painful, disfiguring, and sometimes fatal infections,” Congressman Cummings said. “Our health care systems must be held to account for addressing this critical issue.”
H.R. 4214 not only addresses the threat of MRSA in hospitals, but also its prevalence in the community, which has become a growing concern. A recent study published by the Journal of American Medical Association found that Baltimore City in particular has unusually high rates of community-acquired infections.
"We must do all in our power to identify what is causing the spread of community-acquired infections, and to determine how we can stymie this trend before it grows out of control," Congressman Cummings said. "The message must get out that our schools, gyms, and even the criminal justice system are all necessary partners in the effort to stamp out MRSA." The bill would implement the following reforms:
• Develop best practices guidelines for hospital infection control plans through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and CDC, and update current surveying of infection control plans to incorporate these best practices;
• Require hospitals to report infection data to the CDC and make that data available to researchers, states, health care providers, and the public;
• Require a feasibility study on the use of quality improvement payments to reward hospitals for reducing hospital-acquired infection rates;
• Create a grant program through CDC for states to carry out public awareness campaigns;
• Expand research into community and healthcare-associated infections at the National Institutes of Health (NIH); and
• Create an interagency working group to coordinate federal efforts to reduce and prevent infections.
“We have a national responsibility to redouble our efforts to combat the emergence of infections,” Congressman Cummings said. “This legislation achieves this goal by using a solid, multi-faceted approach.”
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