We make some important information available free. See, for example, our public access repository of medical device incident and hazard information Medical Devices Safety Reports: Lessons Learned Web site at www.mdsr.ecri.org. See also our evidence-based guides for patients and their clinicians. With regard to the information for which we charge, ECRI Institute conducts original research, collects data, and organizes, analyzes, edits, and presents it. It is not simply a content creator but a critical source of value-added judgment. Our work has a substantial cost. We do not accept advertising or placement fees from medical device or pharmaceutical manufacturers. The information we provide is unbiased and is not distorted by commercial interests. All our information undergoes extensive internal and external review to assess quality. This too has a significant cost. You may not realize just how much information is positioned in seemingly independent publications or Web sites by commercial or other vested interests or what critical information is intentionally withheld and how the truth is concealed or distorted. The cost of original research, maintaining quality standards, and rejecting commercial support leaves only one alternative. The users of our information pay for it, but in a form of membership cooperative that minimizes cost to the average user. As a nonprofit organization, we have no stockholders to pay, and our Board of Trustees serves without payment as a public service. Our staff salaries are modest compared to commercial organizations.