Patient Safety Organization (PSO) Common Formats Whitepaper

A patient safety organization, or PSO, is a federally designated organization that allows providers to participate in voluntary initiatives to improve outcomes of patient care. PSOs provide feedback to healthcare providers aimed at encouraging continuous learning and improvement to prevent future patient safety events. The goal of a patient safety organization, whether a public or private entity, is to create a system where healthcare organizations can share data about patient safety events to help identify patterns that may indicate systemic issues or areas for improvement.

In addition, working with a PSO allows healthcare providers to benefit from certain legal protections as designated under the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act (the Patient Safety Act). Patient safety organizations are also regulated by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and as stated under the Patient Safety Act, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is responsible for certifying and listing PSOs.

Although working with a PSO is voluntary, participating in a patient safety organization can significantly aid healthcare organizations in reduce risk and improving the overall quality of care for patients.

One of the benefits of working with a PSO is their role in helping healthcare organizations analyze and trend patient safety data, ultimately turning that data into actionable solutions. By analyzing data from various healthcare providers, PSOs enable administration to notice patterns or recurring issues that might otherwise go unnoticed. This can help bridge the gap between an issue and an intervention.

For example, if the data found indicates a recurring increase in falls during shift changes, leadership can identify this trend and suggest targeted solutions such as increasing staff training for successful transitions.

By aggregating large volumes of event data from multiple sources, PSOs are able to identify, analyze, and help prevent patient safety events. Strengthened by their protections under the Patient Safety Act, which provides confidentiality and privilege protections, PSOs are also able to encourage the reporting of safety incidents without the fear of legal repercussions.

This fosters a more open reporting environment and encourages transparency and continuous improvement within the healthcare industry. Joining a patient safety organization offers a range of benefits to healthcare organizations, but most importantly: the opportunity to help improve patient safety and healthcare quality across the nation.

Ready to learn more? Discover more about the benefits of participating in a patient safety organization. Download our whitepaper by completing the form at the top of the page to get your copy.