Somnia Anesthesia Recognized As A Patient Safety Organization

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – August 8, 2011 — Somnia Anesthesia has received national distinction as a Patient Safety Organization (PSO) from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), on behalf of the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Somnia, based in New Rochelle, N.Y., is the first anesthesia-only management company to become a PSO.

PSOs are designed to help clinicians, hospitals and health care organizations improve the care they deliver to patients by encouraging them to conduct quality and safety analyses. Through federal protections of legal privilege and confidentiality, which are authorized by the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005, PSOs foster a culture of safety and create a secure environment where providers can collect and analyze data to identify and reduce the risks and hazards associated with patient care.

“Somnia is honored to be the first anesthesia-only PSO and one of only 81 organizations in the country currently participating in this voluntary, nationwide effort to improve the quality of patient care,” said Robert C. Goldstein, MD, the company’s executive vice president and chief medical officer. “The quality of anesthesia impacts so many care areas in ambulatory and acute care facilities, and our ongoing commitment to be an accountable anesthesia organization is greatly enhanced by our new responsibility to be an effective PSO.”  

Hugh V. Morgan, Somnia’s director of quality assurance and the newly appointed Director of the Somnia PSO Inc., said: “Receiving federal recognition as a Patient Safety Organization reinforces our core commitment to the highest levels of anesthesia safety and quality, and further validates the systems and processes through which we continuously strive to achieve those levels. We’re privileged for the opportunity to contribute our clinical outcomes data to the national repository and help establish the anesthesia care standards that will be used to improve the quality of health care throughout our country.”

PSOs also are designed to aggregate data across multiple health care provider groups, which will help identify issues quickly and allow improved early warning and communication about ways of reducing risk and improving quality. As de-identified data become available from PSOs, a Network of Patient Safety Databases will receive, analyze, and report trend data nationally which will be included in AHRQ’s annual National Healthcare Quality Report.

“We know that clinicians and health care organizations want to participate in efforts to improve patient care, but they often are inhibited by fears of liability and sanctions,” said AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D. “PSOs facilitate a shared-learning approach that supports effective interventions to reduce risk of harm to patients and improve quality.”

To learn more about PSOs or to view an updated directory of all listed PSOs, visit the AHRQ PSO Web site at www.pso.ahrq.gov.

About Somnia Anesthesia
Founded in 1996 by practicing anesthesiologists, Somnia Anesthesia is a full-service clinical anesthesia solutions partner, providing support in all areas of anesthesia including leadership, recruiting, revenue cycle management, payor contracting, quality assurance, billing and credentialing to hospitals, surgery centers and office based surgical facilities. Owned and operated by physicians, Somnia provides locally recruited anesthesia teams, supported by an unmatched national infrastructure that delivers the economies of scale clients demand. Anesthesia continues to be Somnia Anesthesia’s only business. For more information, visit www.somniainc.com.

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Contact:
Melissa Weisstuch
Somnia Anesthesia
914.637.3533

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