Commission introduces sepsis program for hospitals

OAKBROOK TERRACE - The Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare is introducing its Reducing Sepsis Mortality Targeted Solutions Tool, a web-based application to help health care providers reduce sepsis mortality and increase compliance with sepsis protocols.

Sepsis, a potentially fatal response of the body to infection, is a top cause of death in hospitalized patients. It costs the health care system at least $41 billion each year. Early recognition and effective treatment of sepsis not only saves lives, but it also frees up scarce resources hospitals need for staff or to rebuild infrastructure.

The center's release of the Reducing Sepsis Mortality program follows a comprehensive quality improvement project and a subsequent multihospital pilot that reduced mortality from nearly 20% to over 50%.

Once introduced and implemented into a health care organization, hospital or health system, the TST will help the organization identify customized interventions to increase identification of sepsis patients and reduce sepsis mortality," said Anne Marie Benedicto, vice president and head of the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare.