This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to encourage a culture of safety in health care organizations. The bill, signed into law July 29, 2005, provides legal protection of information voluntarily reported to patient safety organizations (PSOs). This protection helps encourage institutions and individuals to more freely report incidents, concerns, and near misses. PSOs can receive reports on quality and safety from any health care provider, including hospitals, doctors' offices, nursing homes, and ambulatory surgery centers. The federal government has developed and maintains the voluntary reporting system, working with PSOs to analyze data submitted through the system. An annual quality report is released based on this analysis. Dr. William B. Munier discussed the development and implementation of PSOs in an AHRQ WebM&M interview.