REPORTABLE INFECTIONS.

(a) A health care facility shall report to the department each health care-associated infection, including the causative pathogen if the infection is laboratory-confirmed, that occurs in the facility and that the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requires a facility participating in the Medicare program to report through the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Healthcare Safety Network, or its successor.

(a-1) A health care facility shall report each health care-associated infection to the department under this section regardless of the facility's participation in Medicare.

(b) Repealed by Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 512 (S.B. 384), Sec. 2(2), eff. September 1, 2019.

(c) Repealed by Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 512 (S.B. 384), Sec. 2(2), eff. September 1, 2019.

(d) The department shall ensure that the health care-associated infections a health care facility is required to report under this section have the meanings assigned by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

(d-1) The executive commissioner by rule may designate the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Healthcare Safety Network, or its successor, to receive reports of health care-associated infections from health care facilities on behalf of the department. A health care facility must file a report required in accordance with a designation made under this subsection in accordance with the National Healthcare Safety Network's definitions, methods, requirements, and procedures. A health care facility shall authorize the department to have access to facility-specific data contained in a report filed with the National Healthcare Safety Network in accordance with a designation made under this subsection.

(e) A report made under this section must specify whether the infection resulted in the death of the patient while hospitalized.