ECRI Institute Preps Hospital Leaders on Top 10 Technology Issues to Watch in 2017

​PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. – The new and emerging healthcare innovations of 2017 come with a lot of promises. And, just like every other year, hospital leaders must remain vigilant about what to bring into their hospitals—and what to keep out. However, separating the facts from the hype isn’t easily done alone. ECRI Institute recently released its annual Top 10 Hospital C-suite Watch List to help hospital leaders make tough decisions about new and emerging technologies in 2017 and beyond.

Available as a free public service, the list gives hospital leaders evidence-based perspectives on new and emerging innovations that promise to deliver safe and cost-effective patient care. Each entry includes actionable recommendations in a quick-glance “What to Do” section.

“As new technologies come and go, ECRI remains steadfast in its mission to keep healthcare leaders’ technology decisions tethered to their patients’ needs while keeping an eye trained on evidence-based research,” says Diane C. Robertson, director, Health Technology Assessment Information Service, ECRI Institute.

In its 2017 list, ECRI Institute examines 10 topics poised to affect care delivery over the next 12-18 months:

• Liquid Biopsies: The New Wave of Genetic Testing?
• Opioid Addiction: Can Technology Predict Risks of Addiction and Relapse?
• The Belly of the Presurgery Beast: An Initiative to Improve Outcomes and Costs of Abdominal Surgery?
• Right-sizing Your Hospital: Is It Time to Refresh Your Purchasing and Implementation Processes?
• Seeing the Disinfecting Light: Will Compact Deep Ultraviolet-C LEDs Zap Disinfection Rates?
• Pepper, the Emotional Robot: Do You Have a Spot for Artificial Intelligence on Your 2017 Payroll?
• Robotic Surgery: Could a Pricey Patient-repositioning Table Improve Workflow and Outcomes?
• Adjusting the Endoscopy Picture: Is a New Imaging Technique a Better Way to Visualize Tissue Malignancies?
• Crohn’s Disease: Will Immunotherapy and Stem Cell Therapy Rescue Patients with Moderate-to-Severe Symptoms?
• Sticking It to Diabetes: Will Novel Vaccines Prevent or Cure Type I Diabetes in Children and Adults?

“Navigating new technologies is one of the biggest challenges we hear about from hospital leaders,” says Robert P. Maliff, director, Applied Solutions Group, ECRI Institute. “They simply can’t afford to miss the mark on which clinical advancements to bring in to improve patient care.”

The watch list draws upon ECRI Institute’s nearly 50 years of experience evaluating and providing technical assistance on the safety, efficacy and cost-effectiveness of health technologies. It reflects the unbiased, independent judgment of the Institute’s multidisciplinary staff of clinical and technical researchers, engineers, risk management specialists, healthcare planners and consultants.

ECRI Institute invites the press to learn more about the issues on this year’s watch list by attending its media event, “Dismantling Device Dangers, Forecasting New Innovations,” on Tuesday, Jan. 31, at its headquarters in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. Reporters will have the unique opportunity to interact with the Institute’s health technology assessment, hospital consulting, patient safety and medical device evaluation experts.

Professionals are also encouraged to join ECRI Institute’s LinkedIn Group, “Emerging Healthcare Technologies in Patient Care,” for further discussion of these topics.

ECRI Institute’s 2017 Top 10 Hospital C-Suite Watch List is available for download at www.ecri.org/2017watchlist (registration required). For more info, contact 610-825-6000, ext. 5655, or email consultants@ecri.org.