Although the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) core measure bundle for severe sepsis has had some positive effects, emergency physicians need to know how to navigate it properly to help patients while minimizing negative effects.

During the session “Severe Sepsis: The Core Measure Bundle—Good Care or CMS Nightmare,” Eric D. Katz, MD, FACEP, FAAEM, chair of the department of emergency medicine at Maricopa Integrated Health System and executive chair and professor in the department of emergency medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix, will discuss the effects of this core measure bundle on patient outcomes.

Some of the positive effects Dr. Katz will discuss include earlier identification of patients who are potentially sicker than expected and improved patient outcomes. He will also discuss the shortened time for knowledge translation from research to clinical practice.

Additionally, Dr. Katz will highlight frustrations emergency physicians feel due to the core measure bundle and ways to reduce frustrations.

Attendees will receive valuable take-home messages from his session, including one particularly important point: “Don’t do the bundle because you have to. Do it because it is good care,” he said. They also will learn about some of the unintended consequences of the CMS guideline, including higher billing for nonseptic systemic inflammatory response syndrome and sepsis-related organ dysfunction assessment patients.

Eric D. Katz, MD, FACEP, FAAEM

Severe Sepsis: The Core Measure Bundle—Good Care or CMS Nightmare
Sunday, Oct. 29
3:30–3:55 p.m.
WCC, Ballroom B