# Evaluating National Sepsis Policy Using the Electronic Health Record

> **NIH AHRQ K08** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2020 · $146,065

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Sepsis is a critical illness syndrome characterized by infection leading to life-threatening organ failure. Affecting
over 200,000 individuals in the United States each year, sepsis accounts for nearly half of all hospital deaths
and over $20 billion in yearly US hospital costs. Despite the development and dissemination of evidence-based
guidelines, most patients with sepsis do not consistently receive recommended care, resulting in preventable
morbidity and mortality. Consequently, there is increasing interest in implementing health policies designed to
incentivize quality improvement at the hospital level. The largest and most prominent of these policies to date
is the new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) quality reporting initiative, known as SEP-1.
SEP-1 requires hospitals to report their compliance with a variety of evidence-based care processes, including
timely antibiotic administration, timely volume resuscitation, and routine monitoring of the clinical response to
therapy. SEP-1 is unique among quality measures in the CMS Inpatient Quality Reporting Program, both
because it is the only measure based on a critical illness syndrome and because it is of unparalleled
complexity, requiring the coordinated efforts of multiple health care providers across the acute care spectrum.
As a consequence, it is essential to understand how SEP-1 has affected patient care and clinical outcomes. To
address this need, we propose to comprehensively evaluate the impact of the SEP-1 measure using the
electronic health record (EHR) of a large multihospital health system. An EHR-based approach will allow us to
understand the impact of the policy in exceptional detail, yielding actionable data not only for policy makers
seeking to refine SEP-1 but also for health systems seeking to respond to SEP-1 in a way that maximizes the
potential benefits. First, we will analyze the impact of the program on sepsis recognition and documentation
using natural language processing of clinical notes. Second, we will analyze the impact of the program on
sepsis care processes using structured data elements such as vital signs, laboratory values, and medication
administration. Third, we will evaluate the impact of the program on patient mortality, length of stay, and
requirement for organ support. In all aims we will examine both overall effects and hospital-specific effects,
providing an understanding of how hospitals and health systems implement quality improvement in the context
of a novel reporting mandate. Together, these aims will yield important new insights into how clinicians and
hospitals implement new quality reporting programs. At the same time, through a program of structured
mentorship, career development, and stakeholder involvement, this project will provide the principal
investigator with new skills in the use of the EHR to evaluate health care quality and the impact of system-level
health policies, uniquely positioning him...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9936306
- **Project number:** 5K08HS025455-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Ian Barbash
- **Activity code:** K08 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** AHRQ
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $146,065
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-07-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9936306

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9936306, Evaluating National Sepsis Policy Using the Electronic Health Record (5K08HS025455-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9936306. Licensed CC0.

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