Fresenius Medical Care PSO Recognized by Dept of HHS.

Fresenius Medical Care  Patient Safety Organization (PSO.)was recognized by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The certification by the United.States Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, the first for a dialysis organization, furthers Fresenius Medical Care’s mission of continuously improving patient safety and health care quality. The purpose of a PSO is to establish a framework by which doctors and other health care providers may voluntarily report information to PSOs, on a privileged and confidential basis, to collect and analyze patient safety events. Regulations outline how the PSO may utilize data and act as a resource for health care providers to understand and minimize the risks and hazards in delivering patient care.

A PSO's workforce must have expertise in analyzing patient safety events, such as the identification, analysis, prevention, and reduction or elimination of the risks and hazards associated with the delivery of patient care.

“Each of our more than 1,800 kidney dialysis clinics in the U.S. has a Quality Improvement Committee that investigates the root causes of all patient adverse events, with the objective of continuous improvement in patient safety and quality of care,” said Michael Lazarus, M.D., director of Fresenius Medical Care Patient Safety Organization. “Our companywide Patient Safety Organization performs a more global root cause analysis of aggregate data. We do this to maximize safe conditions in our facilities and to provide the safest dialysis treatments

GE Listed as National Patient Safety Organization by HHS, AHRQ

The Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) has listed the GE-MERS National Patient Safety Organization (GE PSO) as part of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) Patient Safety Organization (PSO) program. GE Healthcare Performance Solutions joins leading healthcare organizations  working to minimize risks in patient care. GE’s PSO provides its members a single common medical event reporting platform, with comprehensive data analytics and advisory support to identify the root causes of risk, and help hospitals make lasting patient safety improvements.

“Over a decade has passed since the Institute of Medicine made an influential call to decrease the number of costly medical errors that kill nearly 100,000 Americans each year; however, event-reporting limitations have often impeded progress toward this goal,” said Jan De Witte, President and CEO, GE Healthcare Performance Solutions. “Our Performance Solutions business has the elements necessary – reporting, analytics and advisory - to help hospitals make measurable and lasting improvements in patient safety.  Performance Solutions has a long term commitment to helping the healthcare industry reduce cost, improve quality and increase access and we will continue to invest in new technology capabilities and programs that improve overall performance.”

To read more please visit Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare