Patient Safety Organization (PSO)
Patient safety is who we are. Join us on our journey to eradicate preventable harm.
Enable a Culture of Safety across the spectrum of care.
Designated a Patient Safety Organization (PSO) by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services since 2008, the ECRI and the ISMP PSO helps drive improvements in patient safety by working with organizations and stakeholders across all settings of care. Our experts work together with your clinical and safety teams using healthcare’s largest adverse event dataset, expert insights, best practices, and actionable tools to minimize preventable harm, upgrade clinical and safety protocols, and nurture a culture committed to upholding the highest standards of patient safety.
The Only
organization designated as both an Evidence Based Practice Center (EPC) and Patient Safety Organization (PSO).
2 out of 3
healthcare providers in the United States and more worldwide rely on ECRI's expertise.
7M and counting
safety events comprise our PSO dataset, the largest in the industry.
What is a “Safety Culture?”
In simplest terms, a safety culture is the combination of attitudes and behaviors toward patient safety that are conveyed when walking into a health facility. Numerous studies show a link between a positive safety culture—where safety is a shared priority—and improved patient safety within a healthcare organization. The evidence is so convincing that the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) highlights that leadership support and prioritization of a safety culture is essential to achieve change.
Patient Safety Expertise that Empowers
Our safety experts have studied events from over 1,300 healthcare providers across acute, ambulatory, and senior care to develop guidance for safety improvements.
As a leader in patient safety, ECRI and the ISMP PSO brings up-to-date information and real-time guidance based on our extensive experience and broad adverse event reporting system to assure healthcare leaders across the continuum of care that they’re making the best decisions.
Why We're Unique
- We tailor our support to match your needs, pairing each organization with a Patient Safety expert (most of whom are clinicians or patient safety managers with decades of real-world experience) to provide dedicated service and assistance.
- We maintain one of the largest patient safety reporting and learning systems — collecting and analyzing millions of patient safety events across 90% of the United States.
- Membership provides access to over 500 subject matter experts who stay on the cutting edge of the latest evidence and tools to help organizations like yours build the most effective patient safety strategies.
- As one the largest PSOs in the country, we provide opportunities to share and learn with a diverse collection of organizations across the continuum of care.
How We Help
Our comprehensive collection of safety tools, educational resources, collaborative opportunities, and data-driven insights help providers to improve outcomes. By collecting, analyzing, sharing and learning from adverse events, near misses and unsafe conditions, we're getting one step closer to eradicating preventable harm.
PSO Fast Facts
Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs) collect and analyze data voluntarily reported by healthcare providers to help improve patient safety and healthcare quality. PSOs provide feedback to healthcare providers aimed at promoting learning and preventing future patient safety events. Working with a PSO makes it possible for information from healthcare providers to receive certain legal protections and to be contributed to the Network of Patient Safety Databases (NPSD). Under the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (the Patient Safety Act), AHRQ certifies and lists PSOs.
There are eight patient safety activities that are carried out by, or on behalf of a PSO, or a healthcare provider:
- Efforts to improve patient safety and the quality of healthcare delivery
- The collection and analysis of patient safety work product (PSWP)
- The development and dissemination of information regarding patient safety, such as recommendations, protocols, or information regarding best practices
- The utilization of PSWP for the purposes of encouraging a culture of safety as well as providing feedback and assistance to effectively minimize patient risk
- The maintenance of procedures to preserve confidentiality with respect to PSWP
- The provision of appropriate security measures with respect to PSWP
- The utilization of qualified staff
- Activities related to the operation of a patient safety evaluation system and to the provision of feedback to participants in a patient safety evaluation system
The term "safety" refers to reducing risk from harm and injury, while the term "quality" suggests striving for excellence and value. By addressing common, preventable adverse events, a healthcare setting can become safer, thereby enhancing the quality of care delivered. PSOs create a secure environment where clinicians and healthcare organizations can collect, aggregate, and analyze data, thus identifying and reducing the risks and hazards associated with patient care and improving quality.
PSWP is the information protected by the privilege and confidentiality protections of the Patient Safety Act and Patient Safety Rule. PSWP may identify the providers involved in a patient safety event and/or a provider employee that reported the information about the patient safety event. PSWP may also include patient information that is protected health information as defined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule (see 45 CFR 160.103).
PSOs serve as independent, external experts who can assist providers in analyzing data that a provider voluntarily chooses to report to the PSO. Providers that work with a PSO can benefit from the ability of PSOs to aggregate data from all of the providers reporting to the PSO, enabling many PSOs to develop the large numbers of patient safety events essential for identifying the underlying causes of infrequent, but often tragic, adverse events.
The Patient Safety Act and Rule provide protections that are designed to allay fears of providers of increased risk of liability if they voluntarily participate in the collection and analysis of patient safety events. The uniform Federal protections that apply to a provider's relationship with a PSO are expected to remove significant barriers that can deter the participation of healthcare providers in patient safety and quality improvement initiatives, such as fear of legal liability or professional sanctions.
AHRQ has published a short brochure, "Choosing a Patient Safety Organization," to help providers select a PSO appropriate to their needs.
Please visit AHRQ's Patient Safety Organization (PSO) website.
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