PSOPPC: Patient Safety Data Submission

Section 508 Mode Toggle Skip to main content

Support Contact Us Sign In

Patient Safety Data Submission

PSOs and vendors submit patient safety concern data to the PSOPPC. Analysis of this data is intended to facilitate the development and adoption of interventions and solutions to improve patient safety. Patient safety data is aggregated and made non-identifiable by the PSOPPC for transmission to the Network of Patient Safety Databases (NPSD).

Collapse All | Expand All

Supporting Documents

Data Submission overview for Common Formats for Event Reporting - Community Pharmacy Version 1.0 (CFER-CP V1.0), Common Formats for Event Reporting - Diagnostic Safety Version 1.0 (CFER-DS V1.0), Common Formats for Event Reporting - Hospital Version 1.2 (CFER-H V1.2), Common Formats for Event Reporting - Hospital Version 2.0 (CFER-H V2.0) and Common Formats for Event Reporting - Nursing Home Version 1.0 (CFER-NH V1.0) describe the steps necessary for a Patient Safety Organization (PSO) or vendor to submit patient safety concerns to the PSOPPC and to the Network of Patient Safety Databases (NPSD).

PSE Data Submission Process Overview Posted on: 05/14/2014, 63 KB

The PSOPPC compiled a list of common questions associated with the patient safety data submission process. The following document is updated as additional questions are received.

Data Submission FAQs Posted on: 04/20/2020, 151 KB

PSO-Assigned Provider Identifier Code

The PSOPPC is responsible for the non-identification and aggregation of data received from PSOs. To assist in the creation of non-identifiable data, PSOs assign a unique provider identifier to each healthcare provider contracting with the PSO.

The PSO-Assigned Provider Identifier Code (Provider ID Code) serves as a surrogate Provider ID Code. When the PSO assigns a surrogate ID code to the provider, the identity of the submitting provider is not revealed to the PSOPPC, thus providing anonymity to the healthcare providers. The Educational Brief Issue 40 - Recommended Practices for PSOs Assigning Pseudo Provider IDs for Data Submission to the PSOPPC provides guidance on creating Pseudo Provider ID codes.

It is imperative that the same PSO-Assigned Provider ID Code be used for all files submitted to the PSOPPC for that particular provider. Using the same PSO-Assigned Provider ID Code allows for data aggregation by the provider.

Data Use Agreement

Before a PSO can submit Patient Safety Work Product to the PSOPPC, the PSO must sign a PSO Data Use Agreement via DocuSign. For PSOs choosing to submit patient safety information, an agreement must be executed to specify the respective rights and responsibilities of the PSO and the PSOPPC. The agreement specifies the types of patient safety information, format of data elements, explains how the data may be used, which elements will be transferred to the NPSD, how long the PSOPPC may use the data, and how the data will be protected. Educational Brief Issue 34 - Completing the Data Use Agreement (DUA) provides guidance on completing the Data Use Agreement.

Submission by a Vendor

Patient Safety Data Preparation

Organizations preparing patient safety data in the AHRQ Common Formats should use the following resources provided on the PSOPPC website:

Implementation Guides
Resources Workbooks
Common Formats Flow Charts

These resources provide in-depth information on the technical specifications, necessary data elements with related answer values, and validation rules. Included are the report types and event modules associated with the patient safety data report.

For more information on these resources, see the following pages:

Common Formats for Event Reporting - Hospital (CFER-H)
Common Formats for Event Reporting - Hospital Version 1.2

Common Formats for Event Reporting - Hospital Version 2.0
Common Formats for Event Reporting - Community Pharmacy (CFER-CP)
Common Formats for Event Reporting - Community Pharmacy Version 1.0
Common Formats for Event Reporting - Nursing Home (CFER-NH)
Common Formats for Event Reporting - Nursing Home Version 1.0
Common Formats for Event Reporting - Diagnostic Safety (CFER-DS)
Common Formats for Event Reporting - Diagnostic Safety Version 1.0

Patient Safety Data Submission Process

Patient safety data can be submitted to the PSOPPC in the following report formats:

Submission Methods

PSOs and vendors may utilize the PSOPPC web interface or Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) to submit CDA XML or Alternate Data Submission files. SRDS reports can only be submitted via the web interface.

Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)

Submitting data via the SFTP system will require the same prerequisites as submission through the PSOPPC website; additionally, users will need to register for an SFTP account by contacting the PSOPPC Help Desk at support@psoppc.org.

For detailed instructions on how to submit data via SFTP, please refer to the PSOPPC SFTP Data Submission User's Manual.

PSOPPC SFTP Data Submission Users Manual Posted on: 01/19/2023, 832 KB

Helpful hints for submitting files to the PSOPPC:

The PSOPPC recommends users submit files as "Test" submissions first to verify if the data is structured correctly and to review their "Test" data for any data integrity issues. Once "Test" submissions are completed without any errors, users can then submit files as "Production".
A maximum of 10,000 "Test" files are allowed to be submitted. After reaching this capacity, it is imperative to delete old test files before submitting new ones.
The PSOPPC accepts XML and ZIP for CDA XML data submission, and CSV, XML, and ZIP files for Alternate Data Submission. All other file types will be rejected.
File names must be less than 45 characters in length and cannot contain any spaces nor any of the following characters: \ / : & * ? " _ < >
Each batch of files (i.e., collection of one or more files submitted within the same upload submission) cannot exceed a file size of 80 MB.

View Submission Results

Once patient safety data files are successfully submitted to the PSOPPC, the user submitting the files receives an email detailing the results. It is important to review these results. Only files with a status of "Accepted" are made non-identifiable and sent to the NPSD. Users can also review results via the Submission Management reports on the PSOPPC website or utilize the Web Service detailed below. Furthermore, users are encouraged to run the Common Formats Clinical Dashboards Reports or Common Formats Aggregate Report to confirm the data submitted accurately reflects what they received from providers.

Submission Management Reports

Web Service

The Web Service provides PSOs and vendors the ability to query the submission status and other information of their patient safety data submissions. In addition to an existing Level 3 User account, an additional username and password will be required to access the Web Service.

The following document provides information on how to utilize the Web Service:

PSOPPC_Web_Service_User_Manual Posted on: 11/26/2021, 827 KB