About CareGuard
CareGuard is a Patient Safety Organization listed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, an agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services, under the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005. Its PSO number is P0268 and the listing took effect on November 22, 2024.
It reviews skilled nursing and assisted living facilities for safety, and it operates an on-site reporting channel that routes what people in the building see to facility ownership and the attorneys ownership designates. It is operated by Sevadar Foundation Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
The facts, in one table
| PSO number | P0268 |
|---|---|
| Listing authority | Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), US Department of Health and Human Services |
| Statute | Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005, 42 U.S.C. §§ 299b-21 to 299b-26 |
| Effective date of initial listing | November 22, 2024 |
| Operating entity | Sevadar Foundation Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit |
| Authorized Official | Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP |
| Office | 4477 Woodson Rd, Suite 203, St. Louis, MO 63134 |
Read further
What a PSO is
What listing means, what the Patient Safety Act was for, and what it does not confer.
PSO P0268
The specific listing, its dates, and the continued-listing obligations that come with it.
Patient safety work product
The federal confidentiality mechanism, and how it differs from attorney work product.
What CareGuard is not
Not a regulator, not an accreditor, not a nursing home, not a PEO, not Medicare-anything.
Sevadar Foundation
The 501(c)(3) that operates CareGuard, and the related entities it is often confused with.
Dr. Padda
The Authorized Official on the federal listing.
About Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP
Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP is the Authorized Official of CareGuard, the role the Patient Safety Act assigns to the person who certifies a Patient Safety Organization’s compliance to AHRQ. He is the point of contact on the federal listing for PSO P0268.
He is board certified in anesthesiology, interventional pain, addiction medicine, obesity medicine and pain medicine, and has practiced in St. Louis for more than three decades. The clinical positions CareGuard works from — that medication burden in long-term care is usually higher than it needs to be, and that restraints are a failure of care planning rather than a tool — are his.
Questions people actually ask
Who lists CareGuard?
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Medicare and CMS do not list Patient Safety Organizations and have no role in it. Learn more: What a Patient Safety Organization actually is.
Is CareGuard a PEO?
No. A PEO is a professional employer organization, an entirely different kind of business. CareGuard is a PSO — a Patient Safety Organization. The two acronyms get confused and they have nothing in common. Learn more: What a Patient Safety Organization actually is.
Does CareGuard operate a nursing home?
No. It operates no facility of any kind. It reviews facilities that other people own and run. Learn more: Why we stopped saying “certified”.