MRSA Infection Prevention and Patient Protection Act - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to promulgate regulations that: (1) define "MRSA" (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus); (2) provide a list of best practices for antibiotic resistant staphylococcus; (3) define "high risk hospital departments" for purposes of applying such practices; and (4) provide screening, recordkeeping, and other requirements as they relate to MRSA reductions.
Requires acute care hospitals to screen patients entering intensive care units and other high risk hospital departments. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish a process and a timetable for extending the screening requirements to patients admitted to all hospitals by January 1, 2012, subject to a waiver; and (2) report to Congress, by January 1, 2009, on whether payment adjustments should be made under Medicare to assist certain hospitals in defraying the cost of screening for, and the subsequent treatment of, MRSA or similar infections.
Requires all hospitals to: (1) comply with specified MRSA best practices, including contact precautions and patient isolation; and (2) report by January 1, 2009, the number of cases of hospital-acquired MRSA and other resistant infection rates that occur in the facility. Requires the Secretary to: (1) develop systems of identifying infected transferred patients and promptly informing any facility that has transferred an infected patient; and (2) promulgate regulations to develop a program to provide technical assistance and educational materials to non-hospital Medicare providers to assist in preventing MRSA infections.
Permits a hospital to apply to the Secretary for a one-year increase in the amount of the capital-related costs payment made to the hospital under the prospective payment system, subject to specified repayment and certification requirements.
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