NEWS RELEASE

ECRI Institute Now Offers Culture of Safety Assessment for Health Information Technology (IT) Development Companies

April 10, 2018

PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA—Health IT development companies continuously strive for a culture that puts safety at the forefront when designing and developing products, empowers employees to escalate safety concerns, and allows for collaboration and sharing of best practices among team members and with customers and other stakeholders.

ECRI Institute and the Partnership for Health IT Patient Safety, a multi-stakeholder collaborative convened and operated by ECRI Institute—announce the new INsight® Culture of Safety Assessment for Health IT Companies. The Partnership is encouraging health IT companies to utilize the survey to focus on a three-part safety vision: safe design and development, safe use, and safe implementation of health IT, which all lead to safer care.

"As shown in the EHR Developer Code of Conduct, patient safety is a priority of the EHRA and our members," according to Sasha TerMaat, Chair, Electronic Health Record Association (EHRA) Executive Committee. “Surveys like this one created by ECRI offer HIT developers additional tools for continuous improvement."

This new ECRI Institute program allows health IT developers to assess safety culture with a tool specifically tailored to their unique organizations. A confidential survey questionnaire—hosted on secure servers—facilitates development and implementation of safety-focused action plans grounded in analyses of team members' responses.

“ECRI's experience in similar surveys for provider organizations has shown that monitoring safety-related perceptions and experiences over time, and comparing teams and departments, will strengthen an organizations' safety focus and improve safety across product lifecycles," states Lorraine B. Possanza, DPM, JD, MBE, program director, Partnership for Health IT Patient Safety. “Ensuring a strong culture of safety can help avoid costly disruption of business and unwanted legal and regulatory actions."

This tool will provide the ability to:

  • Evaluate perceptions of safety issues across teams and departments
  • Assess the adoption of a shared safety responsibility
  • Gauge the effectiveness of and needs for safety-related training
  • Compare safety values across teams and product lines
  • Contrast results with similar organizations using de-identified comparative data once enough organizations participate to enable valid comparisons and organizational confidentiality
  • Identify areas that may need greater attention

To learn more about INsight® Culture of Safety Assessment for Health IT Companies, call (610) 825-6000, ext. 5389, e-mail hit@ecri.org.

The Partnership for Health IT Patient Safety, established in 2014, is building a sustainable private sector infrastructure for effective health IT patient safety practices. The Partnership includes healthcare providers, health IT developers, academic researchers, patient safety organizations, liability insurers, professional societies, and patient advocates. The Partnership is sponsored through funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. To learn more about the Partnership, contact us by telephone at (610) 825-6000; by e-mail at hit@ecri.org; or by mail at 5200 Butler Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462.

Social Sharing

  • @ECRI_Institute now offers a fast, effective way for #healthIT vendors to assess culture of safety
  • Find out how @ECRI_Institute is helping #HealthIT companies strive for a corporate culture that puts safety at the forefront

About ECRI Institute
ECRI Institute (www.ecri.org), a nonprofit organization, dedicates itself to bringing the discipline of applied scientific research to healthcare to discover which medical procedures, devices, drugs, and processes enable improved patient care. As pioneers in this science for nearly 50 years, ECRI Institute marries experience and independence with the objectivity of evidence-based research. Strict conflict-of-interest guidelines ensure objectivity. ECRI Institute is designated an Evidence-based Practice Center by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. ECRI Institute PSO is listed as a federally certified Patient Safety Organization by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

About EHRA
Established in 2004, the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Association is comprised of more than 30 companies that supply the vast majority of EHRs to physicians' practices and hospitals across the United States. The EHR Association operates on the premise that the rapid, widespread adoption of EHRs will help improve the quality of patient care as well as the productivity and sustainability of the healthcare system as a key enabler of healthcare transformation. The EHR Association and its members are committed to supporting safe healthcare delivery, fostering continued innovation, and operating with high integrity in the market for our users and their patients and families.

For more information, contact:
Laurie Menyo, ECRI Institute Director of Public Relations and Marketing Communications
(610) 825-6000, ext. 5310
lmenyo@ecri.org

Elinore Boeke, EHRA Communications Consultant
(703) 598-8120
elinore@kecommunications.net