Sepsis Alliance Supports New CMS Measures

For more than a decade, Sepsis Alliance has worked alongside clinicians, health systems, and policymakers to improve how sepsis is identified, treated, and measured in U.S. hospitals. This work is grounded in a simple truth that drives quality improvement across healthcare: you can’t manage what you don’t measure.

Why Sepsis Measurement Matters

Sepsis is the leading cause of death in hospitals and the most expensive condition treated in U.S. healthcare, affecting 1.7 million patients and families each year. Yet sepsis care has long suffered from inconsistency and delayed treatment. Measurement is not bureaucracy; it is a critical patient safety tool that drives accountability and improvement.

A Comprehensive Framework for Quality Care

Sepsis Alliance welcomes CMS’s evolving approach to sepsis quality measurement and appreciates the opportunity to provide input. As the nation’s leading nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and limbs from sepsis, we represent millions of survivors and caregivers and work closely with clinicians nationwide.

Quality improvement pioneer Avedis Donabedian identified three essential components of high-quality care: structure, process, and outcomes. Sepsis Alliance supports the CDC Core Elements as an effective structural measure and endorses the proposed outcome measures of risk-adjusted mortality and 30-day all-cause readmissions, with modest refinements.

How SEP-1 Complements New Measures

Structural and outcome measures represent meaningful progress and will help drive consistency and transparency across health systems. However, sepsis is a medical emergency, and outcomes are shaped by what happens in the earliest hours of care.

SEP-1 serves a distinct and complementary role as the only nationally standardized process measure that assesses whether patients receive timely, evidence-based sepsis care. Used alongside structural and outcome measures, SEP-1 strengthens accountability and supports continuous improvement across all dimensions of care.

If CMS adopts and sustains this comprehensive approach, it will advance patient safety and improve outcomes for millions of Americans.

Take Action Today

Strong, informed public input is essential. Click below to submit comments on the three CMS measures to adopt structural and outcome measures while maintaining a balanced framework that ensures timely, high-quality sepsis care.

Click here to submit comments on Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements Score by December 30, 2025. 

Click here to submit your comments on Readmission by December 30, 2025.

Click here to submit comments on Sepsis Standardized Mortality Ratio by December 30, 2025.

Together, we can protect progress and improve care for every patient affected by sepsis.