Patient Safety Organizations: Your Partner in Improving Health Care Quality

Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs) are designed to improve the quality and safety of America's health care.

How PSOs Work With Health Care Providers

The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (Patient Safety Act) establishes strong Federal confidentiality and privilege protections for information that clinicians and provider organizations assemble and develop when conducting quality and safety deliberations and analysis.

The Patient Safety Rule (effective January 19, 2009) authorizes PSOs to:

Offer health care providers a secure environment—protected by legal privilege and confidentiality—to conduct patient safety activities so that health care providers can analyze quality and safety issues to improve care and reduce risk to patients.
Encourage health care providers to voluntarily submit and share information, which will be de-identified and used to track patient safety trends nationwide.
Give feedback to health care providers on ways to reduce risk and improve patient quality and safety.

Find a Listed PSO

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) administers the provisions of the Patient Safety Act dealing with PSO operations and is responsible for listing PSOs. To access an updated list, visit: www.pso.ahrq.gov/listing/psolist.htm.

Note: The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is responsible for issues involving PSO confidentiality and enforcement provisions of the Patient Safety Rule. For more information about OCR's role, please go to www.pso.ahrq.gov/ocr/ocrsumm.htm.

PSO Contacts

PSO Office
Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
540 Gaither Road
Rockville, MD 20850

E-mail: PSO@ahrq.hhs.gov

Telephone (toll free): 866-403-3697
Telephone (local): 301-427-1111

TTY (toll free): 866-438-7231
TTY (local): 301-427-1130

Electronic Subscription Information

For additional information on PSOs, please visit the AHRQ PSO Web site at www.pso.ahrq.gov