In patients with suspected sepsis, early, accurate identification of patients who will develop organ dysfunction (SS) is critical for effective management and positive outcome. While the American College of Chest Physicians/Society of Critical Care Medicine Consensus Conference definitions provide a clinical guide to identifying patients who have SS, we propose to develop a rapid, point-of-care (POC) IVD for early diagnosis of SS. The basis of the proposed IVD will be the measurement of several, host response, plasma proteins. When performed in patients at the earliest stage of sepsis, this test will have prognostic value, rapidly identifying patients who will have poor outcomes or complicated courses.