The
Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ)
defines a Patient Safety Organization as “a formally recognized, federally approved
entity designed to help clinicians, hospitals, and other healthcare organizations
improve patient care by encouraging them to conduct quality and safety analyses
in a protected environment."
PSOs are designed to help clinicians, hospitals, and other healthcare organizations
improve patient care by encouraging them to conduct quality and safety analyses.
Through federal protections of legal privilege and confidentiality authorized by the
Patient Safety and Quality
Improvement Act of 2005, PSOs foster a culture of safety and create a secure
environment where providers can collect and analyze data to identify and reduce
the risks and hazards associated with patient care.
The TeamHealth Patient Safety Organization (THPSO) was listed by the AHRQ on July
1, 2009. Its primary focus is to create and distribute educational and continuous
quality improvement (CQI) initiatives to its members with a goal of enhancing patient
safety and mitigating risk and liability.