Hiding in plain sight: Why are we worried about Ebola and not sepsis?

Sepsis kills more people in the United States than breast cancer, heart attacks, and the next two leading diseases combined. It is the leading cause of readmissions and for treatment costs exceeding twice that of the next most expensive condition. Survivors frequently suffer amputations and postsepsis syndrome, spending years on treatment and medication to recover. One in 150 people will be directly affected by sepsis, compared to the 1 in 33 million chance that a US resident would contact Ebola. We now have federal funding and a structured framework to treat Ebola, yet nothing exists to address sepsis even though the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reported spending $20 billion in 2011 treating its symptoms for Medicare and Medicaid patients. How do we continue to miss sepsis as a risk management emergency?