Using PSI-90 Scores to Improve Patient Safety and Quality Ratings

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) developed patient safety indicators (PSIs) to help hospitals identify potentially preventable complications after surgeries and procedures.1 Despite their use by federal programs to assess quality of care, there is no consensus on their accuracy as a marker of quality.2 This article examines how a midsize community hospital used PSI-90 scores to develop targeted interventions that resulted in improved patient safety and quality ratings.