Unpacking regionalization of sepsis care using hospital capability assessments

The theory of regionalized acute care seeks to align specific patients with hospitals that offer expertise and capabilities relevant to their care needs. Regionalized care systems for some conditions—trauma, stroke, and myocardial infarction, for example—have offered tangible improvements to patient outcomes by engaging pre-hospital first responders, emergency departments, and inpatient providers in the selection of admission and transfer destinations. Natural diagnoses to consider for future regionalization efforts are those with high morbidity and mortality, demonstrated evidence for high-complexity therapeutic management, and significant observed heterogeneity in treatments and outcomes across hospitals. Does the curse of sepsis fit the bill? As a candidate, certainly—morbid and deadly, requiring a multipronged approach to management, and with heterogeneity in nearly all aspects of its story from diagnosis to recovery.

George L Anesi, Andrew J Admon