Before adjourning for the August Congressional recess, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) unanimously approved the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2003 (S.720). The bill, sponsored by Senator Jim Jeffords (I-VT), is designed to encourage a culture of safety and quality by providing for legal protection of information reported voluntarily to patient safety organizations (PSOs).

Under the bill, PSOs are defined as private or public organizations (or components thereof) whose primary activities are to improve patient safety and quality, collect and analyze patient safety data submitted by providers, develop and disseminate information to providers (including patient safety recommendations, protocols, and best practices), and to work directly with providers to effectively minimize patient risk. The bill also authorizes the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to create a national database to receive relevant non-identifiable patient safety data that have been submitted to patient safety organizations. The bill is similar to legislation in the House sponsored by Congresswoman Nancy Johnson (R-CT).