ECRI Institute Announces Winners of First Annual Healthcare Supply Chain Achievement Award

Five healthcare organizations are recognized for excellence in supply chain management—improving healthcare quality while reducing costs

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., Feb. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- ECRI Institute® (www.ecri.org), an independent nonprofit that researches the best approaches to improving patient care, is pleased to announce the winners of its first annual Healthcare Supply Chain Achievement Award. The award honors healthcare organizations that demonstrate excellence in overall spend management and in adopting best practice solutions in their supply chain processes.

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"These are critical, though often unheralded, accomplishments that lie at the interface between improving patient safety and managing costs efficiently," says ECRI Institute President and CEO Jeffrey C. Lerner, PhD. "ECRI Institute believes that these achievements deserve the attention of the broader healthcare community."

The recipients of ECRI Institute's first annual Healthcare Supply Chain Achievement Award are:

• Broward Health—Fort Lauderdale, FL
• University of California San Francisco Medical Center—San Francisco, CA
• Vanderbilt University Medical Center—Nashville, TN
• Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare—Glendale, WI
• Yale New Haven Hospital—New Haven, CT

The five winning organizations were chosen out of nearly 2,500 hospitals and health systems who subscribe to ECRI Institute's PriceGuide™ and SELECTplus™ supply and capital procurement advisory services. The selected organizations were recognized for a high level of dedication to improving healthcare quality and reducing costs by leveraging the full range of their ECRI Institute membership services.  

"Narrowing down the selection to only five winners was not an easy task," states Jennifer Myers, ECRI Institute's Vice President of SELECT Health Technology Services. "There were so many hospitals and health systems of all sizes that were strong potential winners. Healthcare supply chain has come a long way in my 25 years of experience in the industry. We looked for initiatives that included a strong value analysis process that involves a clinically sound and financially savvy approach to technology decision making."

The evaluation process included a complete study and analysis of each organization's purchase order history, submitted on a routine basis. In addition, ECRI Institute looked at supply chain initiatives that included ongoing and consistent spend management and market analytics efforts for all medical devices, including capital medical equipment, supplies, physician preference items, service contracts, reagents, and others.

"We are honored to partner with these award-winning hospitals in achieving success in supply chain management," says Tim Browne, Director of ECRI Institute's PriceGuide service. "All five organizations have effective value analysis and spend management processes in place, and fully embrace ECRI Institute's benchmarking and analytics tools to support their initiatives."

Presentations to the Healthcare Supply Chain Achievement Award winners will take place throughout the spring. To learn more about the five award-winning healthcare organizations, visit ECRI Institute's Healthcare Supply Chain Achievement Award Winners Circle.

For more information about the award or about membership in ECRI Institute's SELECTplus or PriceGuide programs, contact ECRI Institute by telephone at (610) 825-6000, ext. 5287, by e-mail at [email protected]; by fax at (610) 834-1275, or by mail at 5200 Butler Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462-1298, USA.

About ECRI Institute
ECRI Institute, a nonprofit organization, dedicates itself to bringing the discipline of applied scientific research to healthcare to discover which medical procedures, devices, drugs, and processes are best to enable improved patient care.  As pioneers in this science for more than 40 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 Resources. Find ECRI Institute on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ECRIInstitute) and on Twitter (www.twitter.com/ECRI_Institute). For more information, visit https://www.ecri.org. 

SOURCE ECRI Institute