Four national hospital organizations have sent CMS a letter, urging the federal agency to suspend plans to implement an inpatient quality reporting measure for severe sepsis and septic shock management on Oct. 1, according to an AHA News Now report.
According to the American Hospital Association, America's Essential Hospitals, the Association of American Medical Colleges and Federation of American Hospitals, the CMS measure conflicts with principles of antimicrobial stewardship.
The letter reads, "By encouraging the use of broad spectrum antibiotics when more targeted ones will suffice, this measure promotes the overuse of the antibiotics that are our last line of defense against drug-resistant bacteria."
The groups suggest CMS suspends the measure and has a development team refine the measure's specifications before reintroducing it into the Inpatient Quality Reporting Program.
To read the full letter, click here.
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