Final rule released for Patient Safety Organizations

At long last, final regulations have been passed to implement the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005. It will officially go into effect on January 19, 2009.

The final rule gives Patient Safety Organizations standards for being certified, and also for how to combine safety data into larger databases and find trends. It doesn't solve all of a PSO's problems, though, as voluntary reporting raises questions of how PSOs will get accurate data.

The AMA has welcomed this final rule, saying it resolved their lingering concerns about the legal protection of the data shared with PSOs. The AMA also expressed worry over possible conflicts of interest, but it is satisfied by the rules against certain agents or entities participating in PSOs directly.

To learn more about the new rule:
- read this AMNews piece