Sec. 19a-490n. Advisory committee on Healthcare Associated Infections. Members. Duties.

(a) As used in this section, “commissioner” means the Commissioner of Public Health; “department” means the Department of Public Health; “healthcare associated infection” means any localized or systemic condition resulting from an adverse reaction to the presence of an infectious agent or its toxin that (1) occurs in a patient in a health care setting, (2) was not found to be present or incubating at the time of admission unless the infection was related to a previous admission to the same health care setting, and (3) if the setting is a hospital, meets the criteria for a specific infection site, as defined by the National Centers for Disease Control; and “hospital” means a hospital licensed under this chapter.

(b) There is established an Advisory Committee on Healthcare Associated Infections, which shall consist of the commissioner or the commissioner's designee, and the following members appointed by the commissioner: Two members representing the Connecticut Hospital Association; two members from organizations representing health care consumers; two members who are either hospital-based infectious disease specialists or epidemiologists with demonstrated knowledge and competence in infectious disease related issues; one representative of the Connecticut State Medical Society; one representative of a labor organization representing hospital based nurses; and two public members. All appointments to the committee shall be made no later than August 1, 2006, and the committee shall convene its first meeting no later than September 1, 2006.

(c) The Advisory Committee on Healthcare Associated Infections shall:

(1) Advise the department with respect to the development, implementation, operation and monitoring of a mandatory reporting system for healthcare associated infections;

(2) Identify, evaluate and recommend to the department appropriate standardized measures, including aggregate and facility specific reporting measures for healthcare associated infections and processes designed to prevent healthcare associated infections in hospital settings and any other health care settings deemed appropriate by the committee. Each such recommended measure shall, to the extent applicable to the type of measure being considered, be (A) capable of being validated, (B) based upon nationally recognized and recommended standards, to the extent such standards exist, (C) based upon competent and reliable scientific evidence, (D) protective of practitioner information and information concerning individual patients, and (E) capable of being used and easily understood by consumers; and

(3) Identify, evaluate and recommend to the Department of Public Health appropriate methods for increasing public awareness about effective measures to reduce the spread of infections in communities and in hospital settings and any other health care settings deemed appropriate by the committee.

(P.A. 06-142, S. 1; P.A. 10-117, S. 2.)

History: P.A. 06-142 effective June 6, 2006; P.A. 10-117 amended Subsecs. (b) and (c) by substituting “Advisory Committee on Healthcare Associated Infections” for “Committee on Healthcare Associated Infections” and, in Subsec. (c), by removing “On or before April 1, 2007,”.