Device Evaluations

Understand and compare medical devices based on laboratory testing, ratings, and specification recommendations

Medical product inventories have continually grown in both size and sophistication. For clinical engineering, biomedical technology, and risk management teams, managing medical technology has become increasingly complex and challenging. These teams often face difficult questions: Which products support patient outcomes with the best value? Which have been flagged for recalls? Who can help troubleshoot issues once medical technology equipment has been installed?

ECRI’s Device Evaluations provides a solution that empowers hospitals with the independent and in-depth insights they need – from exploring and purchasing to operating and maintaining medical technology. This solution leverages our unbiased medical device laboratory – the only such facility in North America – and a test methodology developed by clinical reviewers, manufacturers, and internal experts.

Access our Device Evaluations as part of your Capital Guide membership or purchase it as a standalone service. Either way, it offers unbiased medical product test results and ratings, an early warning system of device safety alerts, expert technology guidance, free consultations and webinars, and more invaluable tools and resources.

“ECRI’s report and device evaluations, analyses, product safety alerts, and data on incidents and adverse events related to medical devices make the organization an expert resource for unbiased medical technology management guidance.”
--Sahra Ghasemi, MSPT, Patient Safety Organizational Liaison, Cedars Sinai Medical Center

Choose the technologies that meet your needs and budget, free of vendor bias

When it comes to making smart buying decisions for your facility, you need objective, evidence-based research and recommendations. After all, buying the newest and most expensive technology isn’t always what’s best for your patients. In fact, through laboratory and clinical testing, ECRI’s Health Devices System evaluations routinely identify products that outperform and are safer than those with significantly higher prices. We also conduct and share findings of user experience surveys that reflect the opinions of healthcare workers who use, service, and maintain equipment.

The New York Times referred to ECRI’s Device Evaluations as “the country’s most respected laboratory for testing medical products.”

Consult with our experts for objective, evidence-based recommendations.
When your hospital becomes a member, all employees gain access to our in-house experts. These experts deliver objective, evidence-based advice on a range of technology questions – from wireless networking and interoperability to smart infusion pumps. One decision based on a consultation with our technology management experts can easily save you ten times the cost of your annual membership.

“Congratulations to ECRI for their historical and ongoing commitment to the medical device industry. … From a medical device standpoint, we would be unaware of the massive numbers of reports related to poor design, misuse, and malfunction if it were not for ECRI’s robust Health Devices System.”
--Mike Capuano, Manager, Biomedical Technology, Hamilton Health Sciences

Uncover hidden dangers in your facility.

Each year, ECRI publishes the Top 10 Health Technology Hazards, a popular annual list of potential dangers associated with the use of medical devices – along with recommendations to help providers minimize the risk of technology-related adverse events. Throughout the year, we issue healthcare product safety alerts covering medical device problems, field corrections, and recalls, with recommendations for follow-up.

Device Evaluations: By the numbers

Over the past two years, ECRI engineers:

  • Evaluated 170 devices in 55 technology areas, over 50 devices we improved following our evaluation
  • Received 830 medical device problem voluntary reports from various member health systems, with 132 taken to root-cause analysis and over 20 devices were improved following our investigation

The work of our unbiased laboratory led to software design improvements for better safety, hardware design improvements for better performance, and labeling and user manual improvement for better usability. Learn more about the process.

Interested in learning more?

Setup a consultation with an ECRI expert to learn more about how to manage medical technologies.

Publications

Recent ECRI articles in TechNation.