PA patient-safety panel fighting governor's merger plan

The board of the Patient Safety Authority adopted a resolution Tuesday saying Gov. Corbett's plan to fold it into the state Department of Health would destroy its autonomy. The privately funded authority, which collects and studies hospital data, has gained a national reputation for improving patient safety. Corbett, in his February budget proposal, said merging the authority into the Health Department would help forward his goal of streamlining state government and would "better utilize health information for public-policy purposes."