Currently, five bills have been introduced to establish a national infection reporting law and more aggressive MRSA infection prevention, including some patient screening and well researched and tested protocols. A listing of the bills is attached to this testimony. We are encouraged with this interest by Congress and strongly support a national law requiring all US hospitals to report their infection rates and to require hospitals to screen patients for MRSA and follow protocols to prevent its spread. The states have proven to be good laboratories in which many issues have been debated such as which infections hospitals should initially report, how the data is analyzed and when the reports should be published. The groundwork done in the states will help to guide a national reporting system.