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.
