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Patient Safety Organization Information

What is a Patient Safety Organization (PSO)?

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued a landmark report entitled, "To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System," which highlighted critical areas of research and activities needed to improve the safety and quality of health care delivery. One critical area of the IOM report addressed the reporting and analysis of data on adverse events.

The IOM report and its findings spotlighted a serious need to capture information that would help to improve quality and reduce harm to patients. Addressing this need, Congress passed The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (Patient Safety Act). To read the Patient Safety Act, go to http://www.pso.ahrq.gov/statute/pl109-41.htm.

To implement the Patient Safety Act, the Department of Health and Human Services issued the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement final rule (Patient Safety Rule, PDF file, 760 KB. PDF Help). The Patient Safety Act and the Patient Safety Rule authorize the creation of PSOs to improve quality and safety through the collection and analysis of data on patient events.

PSOs are organizations that share the goal of improving the quality and safety of health care delivery. Organizations that are eligible to become PSOs include: public or private entities, profit or not-for-profit entities, provider entities such as hospital chains, and other entities that establish special components to serve as PSOs.

By providing both privilege and confidentiality, PSOs create a secure environment where clinicians and health care organizations can collect, aggregate, and analyze data, thereby improving quality by identifying and reducing the risks and hazards associated with patient care.