PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA—ECRI, the most trusted voice in healthcare, named McLaren Northern Michigan the winner of its 16th Health Technology Excellence Award for their innovative integration of patient-care technologies into new hospital construction. McLaren facilitated collaboration among various technology vendors to streamline the delivery of information to care providers and to make a better, more informed experience for patients through the optimized flow of clinical information.

ECRI presents its annual award to the member facility that has carried out the most exceptional initiative to improve patient safety, reduce costs, or otherwise facilitate better strategic management of health technology.

“As the nation’s largest patient safety organization, ECRI places high value on initiatives that put patients and innovation at the center of healthcare,” says Marcus Schabacker, MD, PhD, president and CEO, ECRI. “For these reasons, we are pleased to honor McLaren Northern Michigan for their forward-thinking achievements.”

The award-winning submission described the regional hospital’s expansion plan to build 200 private patient rooms, a range of clinical care areas, plus pharmacy and sterile processing services. More than new physical spaces, the addition was designed to build the safest and most advanced integrated patient experience.

This goal required the involvement of a wide range of vendors, including companies that provide high-quality solutions within specific areas of expertise, namely nurse call, patient monitoring, staff communications, electronic medical record (EMR), real-time locating system (RTLS), patient safety, virtual nursing, patient education, Internet Protocol television (IPTV), and patient interaction and entertainment.

“We put considerable thought into which technologies would be used in those spaces, how those technologies would interact with one another, and what implementation measures would be required to ensure that the technologies functioned well together,” said Rich Reamer, regional manager of clinical engineering at McLaren Health Care.

To succeed with their clinician/patient-centric vision, McLaren needed to select product solutions that used an open architecture as well as vendors who would collaborate in connecting different systems. The initial meeting with vendors was a critical first step. Together, they developed an integrated system offering nine total systems working in either total integration, or in support of safety and quality outcomes for the hospital's patients.

“In many aspects, creating a healing environment is just as important as treating and caring for our patients,” said Chad Grant, chief operating officer at McLaren Health Care. “The innovation and follow through displayed by the McLaren Northern Michigan team to develop and implement these technologies were truly remarkable and deserving of this recognition, and it affirms our forwarding-thinking mentality in developing a patient-centric experience at our facilities.”

ECRI received award entries from hospitals in the United States, as well as internationally, including from Columbia, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, and Canada. For more information about the McLaren Northern Michigan initiative, see The Health Technology Excellence Award: Recognizing Exceptional Health Technology Management.

To learn more about ECRI, visit www.ecri.org or e-mail clientservices@ecri.org.

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About ECRI

ECRI is an independent, nonprofit organization improving the safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness of care across all healthcare settings. With a focus on health technology and safety solutions, ECRI is respected and trusted by healthcare leaders and agencies worldwide. Over more than fifty years, ECRI has built its reputation on integrity and disciplined rigor, with an unwavering commitment to independence and strict conflict-of-interest rules.

ECRI is the only organization worldwide to conduct independent medical device evaluations, with labs located in North America and Asia Pacific. ECRI is designated an Evidence-based Practice Center by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. ECRI and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices PSO is a federally certified Patient Safety Organization as designated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) formally became an ECRI Affiliate in 2020. Visit www.ecri.org and follow @ECRI_Org.

About McLaren Northern Michigan

McLaren Northern Michigan is a 202-bed regional hospital located in Petoskey, Michigan serving residents in 22 counties across northern Lower Michigan and the eastern part of the Upper Peninsula. More than 230 physicians represent nearly all medical and surgical specialties, enabling full-service care with an emphasis on cardiology, cancer, orthopedics, and neurosciences. McLaren Northern Michigan has a network of primary care providers and specialty care clinics throughout the region, and an outpatient surgery center in Cheboygan. It has achieved Magnet^® status for nursing excellence, been named a Top 50 heart hospital in the U.S. by IBM/Watson Health, and received the highest national ratings from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for quality and safety.

About McLaren Health Care

McLaren Health Care, headquartered in Grand Blanc, Michigan, is a $6 billion, fully integrated health care delivery system committed to quality, evidence-based patient care and cost efficiency. The McLaren system includes 15 hospitals in Michigan and Ohio, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, a 490-member employed primary and specialty care physician network, commercial and Medicaid HMOs covering more than 588,000 lives in Michigan and Indiana, home health, infusion and hospice providers, pharmacy services, a clinical laboratory network and a wholly owned medical malpractice insurance company. McLaren operates Michigan’s largest network of cancer centers and providers, anchored by the Karmanos Cancer Institute, one of only 51 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the U.S. McLaren has 28,000 full-, part-time and contracted employees and more than 90,000 network providers throughout Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. Learn more mclaren.org.

For more information, contact:
Laurie Menyo, Director of Strategic Communications
610.825.6000 ext. 5310
lmenyo@ecri.org