As a federally listed Patient Safety Organization (PSO), healthcare providers with written agreements in place with NCPS receive privilege and confidentiality protections, under federal law, to encourage reporting of patient safety information and collaboration in learning from events to reduce adverse outcomes.
Benefits of NCPS membership include:
Protected safety information: Certain information, defined as patient safety work product, is privileged and confidential when a provider works with a PSO. These protections apply in all U.S. states and territories and reach across state lines.
The ability to report safety events: Providers with a written agreement in place can report quality and patient safety information to NCPS confidentially and without fear of legal discovery. Development of a strong reporting culture is a key component of a culture of safety and a high reliability organization.
Analysis of reported safety events: NCPS data experts collect and analyze data from multiple providers so that trends and patterns can be identified that may not be visible by looking at smaller numbers of events from a single organization. Rare and serious events may also be detected sooner. NCPS workforce assists healthcare providers with investigating single events and analyzing aggregate data in a protected and confidential manner.
Shared learning opportunities: Through event review and analysis, NCPS gains insight into underlying causes of patient safety events. De-identified Events, Patient Safety Alerts, and Reporting Committee Summaries are shared with NCPS members as part of the feedback loop asking, “Could this happen at your organization?”
Education and training: Members are encouraged to use lessons learned from event reports and feedback to prevent patient safety events. NCPS offers education and training on safety culture development and a variety of patient safety topics based on needs identified from event reports and current patient safety topics through webinars and in-person education offerings.
Assistance with improvement efforts: NCPS assists providers with developing effective approaches to improving patient safety and quality, such as evaluating culture of safety, conducting root cause analyses, and developing strong action plans.
Read more about the benefits of NCPS membership
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
For more information about working with a PSO, download the AHRQ brochure: Click Here
