SB 62-TASK FORCE ON HEALTH CARE INFECTIONS    CHAIR DAVIS announced SB 63 to be under consideration. She added that because of the lack of a quorum, the committee would only be hearing testimony and would not be moving the bill that day. DOUG LETCH, aide to Senator Gary Stevens, sponsor of SB 62, said that the bill would set up an advisory committee on public reporting of health-care-associated infections, which would be managed by the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS). The committee would include a senator and representative, nine members appointed by the governor, and a state official in charge of epidemiology. The nine appointed members would include physicians, a representative of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, a representative of the Alaska chapter of the Association of Professionals in Infection Control, a representative of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association (ASHNHA), urban and rural consumers, and a statistician. He explained that the committee's role will include developing recommendations for analyzing and distributing information related to preventing hospital infection, and will provide its recommendations to the DHSS by 2009. By January of 2011 it will provide the legislature with a report addressing the unique challenges facing Alaska in regards to the issue. He added that many states do this sort of analysis and reporting. 1:38:12 PM JAY BUTLER, Director of the Division of Public Health for the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), said that infections in health care settings have highlighted a need for public health attention in hospitals. Much intensive health care intervention is now done on an out-patient basis, and patients are sent home who may be sicker than those in the hospital. This has led to a consumer-driven interest in public disclosure of hospitals' infection rates. As many as two million infection cases are associated with health care settings yearly; the mortality rate is around 90,000 each year. A number of states require public disclosure of these rates, but challenges include accurate identification of infections; oftentimes infections don't develop until discharge from the hospital. In addition, public disclosure could act as a disincentive to use of hospitals; the more thorough a hospital is in its reporting, the more the hospital appears to be negligent in its care. He added that a special challenge in Alaska is the small patient population, which means difficulties in reporting useful data. Also there is no evidence that public reporting will improve health. Studies have shown that certain criteria should be followed in reporting, including using established public health surveillance methods, a multidisciplinary advisory panel, and appropriate process and outcome measures; he gave examples of processes and outcomes that should be studied. A final recommendation would be that the agency measuring the data provide regular and confidential feedback to health care providers. 1:47:08 PM CHAIR DAVIS thanked Mr. Butler for his presentation and said that she look forward to forming the task force. SENATOR COWDERY related a personal story about hospital infections. 1:49:30 PM SANDRA STARK, representing herself, said she is a public member of the initial working group. She said that lives will be saved by this legislation, perhaps an indeterminate number but doubtless many. Practices are varied for preventing infection and they do make a great difference. Monitoring hospital infection prevention through a pilot program will mean less costs and hospitalizations, the rates of which are very high in Alaska. 1:52:12 PM ROSEMARY CRAIG, representing herself, said she had worked with Ms. Stark on the Lower Kenai Peninsula and it would be advantageous for the entire state to have some kind of tracking, but that she was concerned with how larger and smaller hospitals would be compared; she requested that the committee investigate this further. 1:53:06 PM JENNIFER GROGG, representing the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association (ASHNHA), said that it supports an advisory committee on hospital infections. Such a committee would be able to review the success of states with similar legislation and advise Alaska. Creating equitable guidelines is difficult, and Alaska's should be tailored to the state's specific needs; outpatient facilities should be included in the reporting process. 1:56:13 PM KIM MYMES-SPINK, with Professionals in Epidemiology, said that the group supports the bill and would be happy to participate on the task force. CHAIR DAVIS closed public testimony for SB 62 and said the committee would hear the bill again at a later date.