Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality July 3, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (Patient Safety Act), Pubic Law 109-41, 42 U.S.C. 299b-21b-26, provides for the formation of Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs), which collect, aggregate, and analyze confidential information regarding the quality and safety of health care delivery. The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Final Rule (Patient Safety Rule), 42 CFR Part 3, authorizes AHRQ, on behalf of the Secretary of HHS, to list as a PSO an entity that attests that it meets the statutory and regulatory requirements for listing. A PSO can be ``delisted'' by the Secretary if it is found no longer to meet the requirements of the Patient Safety Act and Patient Safety Rule, or when a PSO chooses to voluntarily relinquish its status as a PSO for any reason. AHRQ has accepted a notification of voluntary relinquishment from the Northern Metropolitan Patient Safety Institute of its status as a PSO, and has delisted the PSO accordingly.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is seeking scientific information submissions from the public on medical devices to treat chronic urinary retention. Scientific information is being solicited to inform our review of chronic urinary retention (CUR) treatment, which is currently being conducted by the Evidence-based Practice Centers for the AHRQ Effective Health Care Program. Access to published and unpublished pertinent scientific information on medical devices to treat chronic urinary retention will improve the quality of this review. AHRQ is conducting this comparative effectiveness review pursuant to Section 1013 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, Public Law 108-173, and Section 902(a) of the Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. 299a(a).