The term “Common Formats” refers to the common definitions and
reporting formats that allow health care providers to collect and
submit standardized information regarding patient safety events.
Additional details about the conceptual framework for the content
and structure of the Common Formats can be found at the Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) website.
One common question CHPSO receives is about coding the location of the event, as the AHRQ common formats codes are new to many. The entire set of locations is listed below. Because most hospitals are reporting data to NHSN and have coded their locations according to that standard, CHPSO has developed a crosswalk that allows organizations to, when faced with a question about an unusual department, to rapidly identify the proper code. As always, please call us if you have any questions. We’re eager to help.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information
Technology (ONC) has taken several steps to increase reporting to
PSOs and facilitate providers’ ability to collect data and solve
problems. Among other actions, ONC has established prizes for
application development and has proposed placing Common Formats
(the national standard taxonomy and electronic format for
reporting to PSOs) into meaningful use criteria.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) Privacy
Protection Center provides technical assistance to PSOs by
ensuring patient safety event data is nonidentifiable when
submitted to AHRQ’s Network of Patient Safety Databases. The
center also provides technical assistance on using Common
Formats.
Interested counsel may join a discussion group that offers
support and an opportunity to learn about the new legal
privileges and challenges of the Patient Safety and Quality
Improvement Act of 2005. You can request to join the
group by following this link: eepurl.com/rKJaf. This group
generally holds conference calls quarterly.
