The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act protects information assembled for reporting to a certified patient safety organization. Protection is privileged and confidential, with limited exceptions.
Documents required for other purposes are excluded.
Alternative Names:
PSWP, Patient Safety Act Protection
Why it Matters?
The federal framework provides broader protection than many state privileges but requires actual participation in a patient safety organization and a functioning patient safety evaluation system. Documents the facility must maintain for regulatory or business purposes fall outside protection regardless of whether they were also reported. Establishing that the system was properly constituted is the predicate courts examine.
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Frequently asked questions
What does the federal protection require?
What falls outside protection?
