The Patient Safety Organization (PSO) program was developed in response to the Institute of Medicine 1999 report, To Err is Human to improve quality and safety by reducing the incidence of events that adversely affect patients.
The purpose of the program is to promote shared learning to enhance quality and safety by providing privilege and confidentiality protections for providers who work with PSOs.
The primary activity of a PSO is to work with healthcare providers in a variety of settings where care is provided and conduct patient safety activities.
A PSO does this by assisting providers with developing patient safety evaluation systems, through which their patient safety work product can be analyzed and shared within their organizations and with the PSO under the confidentiality and privilege protections of the federal Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005.
Learn More About Patient Safety Organizations and NCPS
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
For more information about working with a PSO, download the AHRQ brochure: Click Here
