A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate funds for surveillance of hospital‑acquired infections in north carolina, as recommended by the joint study committee on hospital infection control and disclosure.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, the sum of six hundred fifty thousand four hundred ten dollars ($650,410) for the 2009‑2010 fiscal year and the sum of five hundred seventeen thousand four hundred ten dollars ($517,410) for the 2010‑2011 fiscal year in recurring funds to develop and implement a mandatory statewide hospital‑acquired infections surveillance and reporting system, as recommended by the Joint Study Committee on Hospital Infection Control and Disclosure.  These funds shall be used to accomplish all of the following:
(1)	Establish new positions within the Communicable Disease Branch to implement a statewide hospital‑acquired infections surveillance and reporting system.
(2)	Purchase equipment and provide operational support for the new positions established within the Communicable Disease Branch.
(3)	Establish and support an information technology position within the Department to customize the North Carolina Electronic Disease Surveillance System for data collection under the statewide hospital‑acquired infections surveillance and reporting system.
(4)	Develop and implement a training program for hospital staff.
(5)	Develop a methodology for public disclosure of validated hospital‑acquired infections data.
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2009.