Situation Report | June 21, 2022
HCA, national and state sepsis leaders, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), officials from the state departments of Health, Mental Health, Aging and Developmental Disabilities, home care agencies, hospitals, physicians, health plans, EMTs consumers, skilled nursing facilities, adult homes and assisted living, researchers and others all converged last Thursday in Albany for a statewide summit on sepsis.
The summit, led by HCA and cosponsored by over 24 organizations (below), was supported under HCA’s statewide Mother Cabrini Health Foundation funded initiative, Improving Sepsis Prevention, Screening and Intervention in the Community and Across the Continuum.
Ciaran and Orlaith Staunton, co-founders of ENDSEPSIS-The Legacy of Rory Staunton, Kristin DeVries Director of Advocacy for Sepsis Alliance, and State Office for Aging Director Greg Olsen, addressed the imperative of sepsis action by all sectors, disciplines and societal elements. Each leader also described state and national sepsis data, initiatives and needed directions, as well as the resources available from their organizations for sepsis education, intervention and opportunities for every sector’s involvement.
Top CDC Sepsis Advisor, Dr. Raymund Dantes presented critical developments and vision in sepsis from the federal perspective, including CDC’s “Get Ahead of Sepsis” campaign, a focus on initiatives under this campaign and “unmasked” sepsis challenges ahead. Conferees underscored the importance of CDC focus on sepsis inception and intervention at the community level. Distinguished Villanova professor and researcher Dr. Melissa O’Connor presented major findings from ongoing research by the Universities of Pennsylvania and Villanova under the I-TRANSFER initiative. Dr. O’Connor identified needs in cross-sector coordination, information exchange and care transitions, especially between hospitals, home care and physicians, and pointed to potential for major outcomes-improvement in readmission and sepsis prevention by incorporating home health nursing and physician visits in post-acute care.
IPRO Vice President for Quality, Sara Butterfield presented extensive data on the latest statewide sepsis findings in hospitals, nursing homes and home care, and further emphasized the imperative of early recognition and intervention both in her presentation and in summit dialogue with CDC’s Dr. Dantes.
The summit further featured an expert panel of presenters on “special populations” (including pediatrics, older individuals, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and mental health) moderated by HCA Executive Vice President and clinical director Rebecca Fuller Gray RN, BSN, MBA, and the important considerations in sepsis for these populations. Following this session, the summit was addressed by a panel distinguished physicians and leaders from each health sector, including hospitals, physicians, nursing homes, home care, health plans, agencies on aging, adult homes and assisted living facilities, and consumers. Moderated by IPRO’s Sara Butterfield, the panel focused on critical initiatives, developments, gaps and opportunities in each health system sector.
HCA Board member and sepsis workgroup clinical leader, Amy Bowerman, RN, BSN, Vice President for the Mohawk Valley Health System, presented the HCA Sepsis Screening and Intervention tool, representing the major effort underway throughout the state in addressing sepsis in home and community health. HCA medical interns and MD candidates at Albany Medical College Shayhaan Shaikh, MBA and Devneet Singh, MBA, presented the HCA home care pediatric sepsis tool that they have researched and helped develop for use in NYS home care, and is currently in beta test at four major health systems in the state.
Following these sessions, the summit shifted to focus on opportunities for collaborative initiatives and solutions entailing all sectors. This included Kristin DeVries presentation of the launch of Sepsis Alliance’s new “Sepsis Innovation Collaborative,” HCA’s exploration of the piloting of comprehensive sepsis collaboratives, and open-summit identification of a next-steps workplan.
The sepsis summit was professionally video recorded and will announce as soon as the recording and the summit resources are posted and available.
Post Summit June 24 Education Session on HCA Sepsis Tool
Post-summit, HCA has scheduled a statewide education and training session on sepsis and specifically for onboarding of the HCA sepsis tool for organizations who have NOT YET been able to participate in the training necessary to do so. This is for any home care, hospice, health plans, aging agencies, mental health/ICDD agencies, and other community providers who wish to initiate use of this tool. See related article in this Situation Report.
HCA Sepsis Perspective Survey
Critically, HCA invites organizations to complete this very brief but important survey to share your perspectives and experience on sepsis across sectors.