Sepsis, a life-threatening condition resulting from the body’s dysregulated response to infection, remains one of the leading causes of hospital mortality. Across the University of Texas System, clinicians, informaticists, and researchers are aligning efforts to support earlier recognition, faster treatment, and improved outcomes.
The University of Texas Managing and Optimizing Sepsis Treatment (UT-MOST) initiative, led through the UT Health Intelligence Platform (UT-HIP), is establishing a coordinated, systemwide framework to standardize sepsis definitions, tracking, and analytics. By bringing together expertise across UTHealth Houston, UT Southwestern, UTMB Health, Memorial Hermann TMC, Harris Health, MD Anderson Cancer Center, UT Health San Antonio, Dell Seton Medical Center, and additional affiliates, UT-MOST is creating shared visibility into variation and improvement opportunity.
“A Shared Mission Across the UT System”
For years, sepsis improvement has primarily been driven locally within individual hospitals. UT-MOST strengthens progress by aligning a systemwide learning and performance framework where data, knowledge, and best practices flow more seamlessly across institutions. From large academic medical centers to regional affiliates, participants are seeing the benefit of a common approach.
“By collaborating across UT Health systems, we’re building something greater than any one institution could do alone,” said Tim Kraeter, Director of Clinical Performance Improvement at UT-HIP and lead for the UT-MOST initiative. “Our collective expertise and data give us a unique opportunity to set a national standard.”
AIM 1 Priority: Time-to-Antibiotics
Time-to-antibiotics remains one of the strongest predictors of survival for patients with sepsis and septic shock. UT-MOST teams have collaboratively mapped key ED process intervals, from triage and physician evaluation through order placement, pharmacy processing, and antibiotic administration.
This standardized methodology supports the development of a first-generation benchmarking dashboard that will allow institutions to identify bottlenecks, monitor performance, and support rapid-cycle improvement. Initial release of these dashboards is planned in phases as data validation progresses.
Listening Tour: Insights Driving Strategy
Throughout the past year, UT-MOST conducted a UT System Listening Tour to understand current workflows and frontline challenges. Common themes include:
• Variation in sepsis screening and trigger pathways • Operational innovations that have overcome common delays linked to capacity and staffing constraints • Coordination gaps between subprocesses in the Sepsis care pathway
These findings directly informed data capture requirements and alignment of future interventions.
Infrastructure Progress: Foundational Data Acquisition
UT-MOST has achieved a key milestone with the first sepsis-related extract completed from UT Southwestern’s Epic environment in early October using established Epic data marts. A second expanded data extract is underway, representing continued progress toward a recurring, scalable data pipeline for system benchmarking.
These activities are guided by the UT-HIP Data and AI Ecosystem Council in close collaboration with UT System and affiliate hospitals. Once validated, data will be securely stored within Microsoft Fabric, supporting analytics that remain protected and governed within the UT System.
By aligning these datasets with sepsis workflow mapping completed at several institutions, UT-MOST will highlight current practices, illuminate variation, and support shared improvement priorities, while each hospital maintains responsibility for operational change.
Early Accomplishments
UT-MOST has:
• Established a systemwide sepsis registry framework • Built a network of Sepsis Champions for cross-institution collaboration • Defined the ED sepsis timeline for standard measurement • Begun the transition to Power BI to support long-term analytics sustainability
These milestones strengthen data-driven improvement capacity across all participating sites.
Future Focus Areas
Upcoming efforts include: • Improving identification of cryptic sepsis and septic shock • Expanding time-tracking across the continuum of care • Assessing automation opportunities for documentation consistency • Exploring advanced analytics to enable earlier intervention
As dashboards are deployed, UT-MOST will work with institutions to align on shared performance goals and progress checkpoints within the UT-HIP Quality Collaborative.
A Systemwide Model for Improvement
The UT-MOST initiative demonstrates the value of coordinated quality strategy across a major academic health system. By aligning analytics infrastructure with frontline expertise, the program aims to reduce preventable harm and improve outcomes for patients across Texas.
“Every life saved is a reminder of why this work matters,” Kraeter said. “Together, we’re not just improving sepsis care, we’re setting the stage for how academic health systems can work together to solve healthcare’s biggest challenges.”
