Situation Report | January 10, 2021
Leaders from throughout the health field – state, national, public and private – joined with HCA on Friday on a collaborative workplan to improve sepsis response across the continuum of care. The initiative is supported by a generous grant to HCA from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation.
The meeting of the HCA Sepsis Steering Committee brought together leader representatives of hospitals, physicians, nursing homes, adult care, home care, hospice, behavioral health, health plans, aging services, infection control, quality improvement, university research, state government, and other, with HCA and the national advocacy organization Sepsis Alliance for this planning session.
Sepsis Alliance Founder, Dr. Carl Flatley, President Thomas Heymann and Director of Education Claudia Oath provided a national overview of sepsis data, cross sector developments and Alliance resources and initiatives. The data include:
- $62 billion national Medicare sepsis expenditures
- 87% originating in home and community
- The highest risk populations – mirrored in the home care population
- #1 cause of hospital readmissions
- #2 cause of maternal mortality
- A hospitalization every 20 seconds
- 14,000 amputations annually
HCA Board Member and Sepsis Clinical Leader, Amy Bowerman, Executive Director of Senior Network Health, provided perspective and concrete ways of facilitating sepsis coordination between hospitals, home care and other continuum partners.
Jillian Thibault, Sepsis Consumer Advisor to HCA and the 2021 HCA “Shining Light” awardee, provided her personal, powerful account of sepsis in home care, including the critical importance of coordinated sepsis screening intervention in home care and primary care, and in transition to home from hospital following treatment.
HCA President Al Cardillo outlined the major components of the HCA/Cabrini all-sector initiative that entitled: Improving Sepsis Prevention, Screening and Intervention in the Community and Across the Continuum. He outlined the initiation of these steps in HCA and the roles of the all-sector partners on the Committee:
- Targeted outreach, education and training for home health agencies and clinical partners in sepsis screening and intervention to communities currently unserved areas.
- Targeted outreach, education and training for expanded sepsis screening and intervention by home health for special needs populations (e.g., maternal, pediatric, mental health, developmental disabilities, veteran, et al) and expanded community settings (assisted living, group homes, local aging network)
- Drafting, beta testing and piloting of a pediatric-specific home health screening and intervention tool (currently, drafts have been researched and prepared for beta).
- Development of guidance to assist and promote coordinated sepsis response across all sectors (home/community, EMS, physician, hospital, et al), building on the work begun by our 2017-18 HCA all-sector steering committee and statewide summit, and to be vetted at a similarly planned summit later this spring.
- Explore development of multilevel sepsis collaboratives (hospitals, home care, EMS, physician, et al) addressing a community’s array of sepsis response needs, from education and awareness, to screening, prevention, early identification, treatment, and post-sepsis interdisciplinary care. Facilitate consideration through NYS Hospital-Home Care Collaboration Law and through potential next phase funding request.
Mr. Cardillo reported that currently, home care agencies serving 58 of the state’s 62 counties have adopted the HCA sepsis screening and intervention tool and protocol in their patient care practices. He said that, under the grant, HCA would be further urging and offering fully funded training for home care, hospice, MLTCs and other community and ambulatory agencies to incorporate the sepsis tool in their practice. HCA will be announcing new education and training opportunities, but in the meantime, HCA urges all agencies and health plans not currently utilizing the sepsis tool, to take the opportunity to do so, starting with outreach to sepsistool@hcanys.org.
HCA extends tremendous thanks to Sepsis Alliance and all of the health system leaders who participated in Friday’s meeting and will continue to be engaged with HCA in the all-sector, all-partner effort.
HCA will be announcing further steps and updates on a regular basis. Contact HCA with any questions, recommendations or requests.