STAAR Act

Strategies To Address Antibiotic Resistance Act or the STAAR Act This bill expands various initiatives to address antibiotic resistance. The bill reestablishes the interagency Antimicrobial Resistance Task Force to coordinate and develop efforts addressing antibiotic 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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to use the National Healthcare Safety Network to collect and report data about the usage of antibiotic 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 Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance and Laboratory Network in at least seven geographic regions, establishing the Clinical Trials Network on Antibacterial Resistance to conduct clinical research, and requiring the CDC to collaborate with state and local agencies to support health care facilities that focus on preventing the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.