Sepsis Month: Senate Resolution, NYSOFA PR, Plus HCR, VNSNY & Americare Features

Situation Report | September 21, 2020

The state Senate has passed a resolution recognizing September 2020 as Sepsis Awareness Month in the State of New York.

HCA, our Stop Sepsis at Home NY screening initiative, and allied partners recognize and greatly appreciate this action initiated by the Senate’s Health Committee Chairman Senator Gustavo Rivera.

Full text of the resolution is posted to our Stop Sepsis at Home NY website here.

As previously reported, our partners at Sepsis Alliance are working to achieve similar resolutions in all 50 states, and HCA is proud to be part of efforts to put New York State in that number as we work alongside other leading advocacy and awareness organizations like End Sepsis: The Legacy of Rory Staunton.

New Research from HCR Home Care and VNSNY Study

For Sepsis Awareness Month, we also recognize home care providers who are taking on sepsis prevention and mitigation through our Stop Sepsis at Home NY screening initiative and other programmatic efforts. (If you haven’t yet adopted HCA’s screening protocols, please visit our Stop Sepsis at Home NY website to learn more and write to us to here to obtain a user licensing agreement.)

Indeed, new research is revealing incredible outcomes through sepsis screening and intervention at home.

HCA congratulates HCR Home Care for an article on its sepsis program that has been accepted for publication in a future edition of the Journal of Nursing Care Quality.

We thank HCR’s Senior Director of Clinical Innovation Chris Chimenti for sharing an advance copy of his executive summary of the study. In it, HCR conducted a retrospective review of its patient records involving positive sepsis screens identified between May 2018 and December 2019. That analysis found:

  • Of 33,264 sepsis screens completed among 7,242 patients during this time frame, there were 211 positive sepsis screenings involving 188 patients.
  • 156 screenings met criteria for sepsis and 55 screenings met criteria for severe sepsis.
  • 2 percent of positive screenings for sepsis and severe sepsis resulted in patients receiving early medical intervention while remaining at home and avoiding hospitalization.

HCR’s research adds to other pioneering work by HCA member organizations, like VNSNY and its Center for Home Care Policy & Research, which published an article in the journal Medical Care showing that early home visits by a nurse, combined with at least one visit to a physician during the first week after discharge, significantly reduced an individual’s likelihood of being re-hospitalized for sepsis. You can read more about VNSNY’s findings here.

Americare’s Bridget Gallagher Presents at National Sepsis Summit

HCA Board Member Bridget Gallagher, who is Vice President of Americare, presented at the National Sepsis Summit on September 16 in a panel entitled “If I Could Change One Thing to Improve Sepsis Care.” She discussed Americare’s experience implementing and utilizing the HCA sepsis screening and intervention tool and protocol with her home care patients, citing many cases of sepsis prevention and mitigation. She also showcased the positive impact of including home health aide education and involvement in the process of detecting early signs and symptoms of sepsis, in conjunction with the agency’s clinical staff.

NYSOFA Press Release

Also, the New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA) sent a press release for sepsis month last week urging caregivers and older New Yorkers “to get immediate treatment, and to learn how to prevent infections that could lead to sepsis.” NYSOFA has been a key HCA partner in raising awareness about sepsis, and last week’s press release highlighted home care’s role along with the vital need to provide sepsis care for the home care population.