NJ S1151

General and special hospitals in New Jersey must adopt, implement, and submit evidence-based protocols to the Department of Health for early recognition and treatment of sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock in both adult and pediatric patients

Protocols must include screening processes, criteria for identifying appropriate patients, specific treatment guidelines with timeframe goals, and procedures for early antibiotic delivery and infection source identification

Hospitals must periodically train all professional staff with direct patient care responsibilities and relevant indirect care staff (laboratory, pharmacy) on implementing sepsis protocols

Hospitals must submit proposed protocols to the Department of Health within 120 days of the act's effective date and may resubmit updates no more than once every two years unless performance concerns arise

Hospitals are required to collect quality measures for internal improvement, annually report data to the department for developing risk-adjusted mortality rates, and are subject to audit at the department's discretion