The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality designated its first 10 patient-safety organizations covered under interim guidelines as HHS continues to hammer out a final rule governing how PSOs will collect and share patient-safety data, writes Modern Healthcare.
The 10 designees will work under contract with providers to collect and report information about medical errors. The companies and associations that will operate the PSOs are: California Hospital Association & California Association of Hospitals and Health Systems; ECRI Institute; Florida Patient Safety Corp.; Quality Health Strategies; Human Performance Technology Group; Institute for Safe Medication Practices; Missouri Center for Patient Safety; Peminic; Harbor Medical; and University HealthSystem Consortium.
This is only the beginning of implementation; the organizations have to wait for the final rule to ensure they can collect data appropriately. The final rule—expected by year-end—will be the implementation of the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005, through which the federal government hopes to create a network of PSOs that will analyze patient-safety incidents and establish best practices and other quality improvements