Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act

Entities and individuals licensed or authorized under state law to provide healthcare services are "providers" eligible to participate in a PSO. This means that the following may participate: hospitals, nursing facilities, comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facilities, home health agencies, hospice programs, renal dialysis facilities, ambulatory surgical centers, pharmacies, physician and healthcare practitioner practices (including group practices), long-term care facilities (including state-licensed or state-authorized assisted-living residential care facilities that provide healthcare services and other community-based care providers), behavioral health residential treatment facilities, clinical laboratories, and health centers. Providers in states that have excluded some categories of healthcare entities from state law privilege statutes have an opportunity to gain broad privilege protection by participating in a PSO.

Also eligible for participation are individual providers such as physicians, physician assistants, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, certified nurse-midwives, psychologists, certified social workers, registered dieticians and nutrition professionals, physical and occupational therapists, pharmacists, and others.

PSO participation may be of particular interest to physician practices that wish to conduct patient safety and quality improvement activities to improve care and reduce the risk of patient harm and consequent liability claims. Most state laws do not provide legal privilege from disclosure for information generated by patient safety and quality improvement activities that are conducted within private physician medical corporations.

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