In response to the current National drive to establish mechanisms for the improvement of patient safety as recommended by the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005, the International Institute for Organizational Excellence, LLC is preparing to establish a community based network of Patient Safety Organizations in the State of Maine.

This new concept is designed to provide a portal for each medical system, hospital, physicians group, long term care facility, or other allied health group to manage knowledge in order to provide and share mechanisms to protect patients and reduce risk.

The Maine Patient Safety Organization Network will offer support services and resources to community medical groups and existing heatlhcare networks to develop their own Patient Safety Organization (PSO) designed according to their own unique needs and methods of operation. The interactive functionality of the Maine PSO Network is provided by an online data collection and management tool developed specifically for the needs of the ME PSO Network and its clients.

In addition to assisting in the development of a community PSO network, The Maine PSO Network will provide a connection between the community based PSOs and a national network of PSOs. This structure will provide a unique mechanism for the sharing of ideas, the identification of trends, and the development of solutions to optimize time, improve efficiency, and provide mechanisms "to provide an interactive, evidence-based management resource for providers, PSOs, and other entities. It will be used to analyze national and regional statistics, including trends and patterns of patient safety events." All participants in the Maine PSO Network will be provided with "Federal legal privilege and confidentiality protections for information that is assembled and reported by providers to a PSO or developed by a PSO ('patient safety work product') for the conduct of patient safety activities."