STAAR Act

Strategies To Address Antimicrobial Resistance Act or the STAAR Act This bill expands various initiatives to address antimicrobial resistance. The bill reestablishes the interagency Antimicrobial Resistance Task Force to coordinate and develop efforts addressing antimicrobial resistance. The Department of Health and Human Services must encourage health care facilities to implement antimicrobial stewardship programs to evaluate and improve the use of antimicrobial drugs. The bill also requires the use of the National Healthcare Safety Network and similar surveillance systems to collect and report data about the usage of antimicrobial drugs, changes in resistance to such drugs, and other trends impacting patient outcomes. Additionally, the bill increases nationwide efforts to monitor, research, and prevent the spread of infection from resistant organisms by establishing the Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance and Laboratory Network in at least seven geographic regions, maintaining the Clinical Trials Network on Antimicrobial Resistance to conduct clinical research, and requiring collaboration with state and local agencies that support health care facilities that focus on preventing the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.