GAO says not enough information yet about PSO system to assess progress

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was required by the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 to assess the effectiveness of the law by February 1, 2010. In its report released on January 29, the GAO found that although the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), under the direction of the Department of Health and Human Service (HHS), has taken action to carry out the intent of the Patient Safety Act. However, because much of the action took place within the last year (final regulations became effective on January 19, 2009), the GAO is unable to evaluate at this time if the intent of the Patient Safety Act is being carried out.

The Patient Safety Act required a few things:

• The establishment of Patient Safety Organizations (PSO) to work with hospitals in collecting patient safety data
• A set of “common formats” in which data should be collected
• The creation of a Network of Patient Safety Databases (NPSD), to which PSOs would submit de-identified patient safety data. The data would eventually be analyzed and used to improve nationwide patient safety practices.

After consulting with administrators at the AHRQ, HHS, and 17 out of the 65 registered PSOs, the GAO found that although solid groundwork has been laid for carrying out the intent of the law, it is too early to tell if the law is being effective, as many of the requirements are in the midst of being completed. However, the GAO cautions, because it is voluntary for hospitals to contract with a PSO in the first place, the full value of the law may never be realized even when all of the work of listing PSOs, establishing the NPSD, and analyzing data is finished.

You can find the full report from the GAO here.

I’m curious about what you make of this report. It was required by law to be undertaken, but it seems to me like it would have been more logical to assess that there’s not been enough action taken yet to fully report on the effectiveness of the Patient Safety Act, and to shelve the report for a year or two. That being said, one of the striking things that did come out of the report seems to be the overall lack of hospital engagement with existing PSOs. Of the PSOs interviewed, only three had already collected data from contracted hospitals. What’s more, only four PSOs reported having contracts to work with hospitals to collect data for the NPSD.

Has your hospital elected to work with a PSO? Do you know why or why not?