The Wyoming State Legislature passed a bill (Senate File 0113) during the 2005 session requiring all licensed healthcare facilities in the state to report any occurrence of a defined set of patient safety events. The purpose of this law is to provide the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) with information that can be used to identify trends in healthcare facility safety events. This information can then be used to assist healthcare facilities in reducing the severity and incidence of safety events.
At the end of each year, the WDH will prepare an aggregate report, without facility or facility employee names, on medical safety events in the state, and will make any necessary recommendations to reduce such events.
The law also requires licensed healthcare facilities in the state assign a Patient Safety Officer, who has the responsibility for reporting safety events under this statute, and who will be the WDH contact for patient safety enhancement. If you are a healthcare facility licensed by the state, you should have designated a patient safety officer for your facility and notified the WDH. If you have not designated your patient safety officer or notified the WDH, you can download the ‘Patient Safety Officer form’ listed below.
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