Methodist Hospital of Southern California Cybersecurity Program Captures ECRI Institute's 2013 Award

Health Devices Achievement Award goes to hospital for initiative that raises awareness about cyber threats from new medical technologies in healthcare settings; 6 other healthcare organizations named finalists

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., Sept. 25, 2013 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ECRI Institute (www.ecri.org), an independent nonprofit that researches the best approaches to improving patient care, is pleased to announce Methodist Hospital of Southern California, Arcadia, CA, as the winner of its 8th Annual Health Devices Achievement Award. The award recognizes an outstanding initiative undertaken by an ECRI Institute member healthcare institution that improves patient safety, reduces costs, or otherwise facilitates better strategic management of health technology.  

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Methodist Hospital's winning submission, Redefining Medical Equipment Management and Giving a Solution to Vulnerabilities from New Medical Device Technology, describes its development of a new integrated systems management program that identifies equipment vulnerabilities related to patient safety, information availability, and cybersecurity that result from the introduction of advanced and increasingly complex medical devices in the healthcare setting.

"We are honored that ECRI Institute has recognized the innovative systems-based approach our team took to address medical device cybersecurity vulnerabilities," says Anthony Coronado, biomedical engineering manager, Methodist Hospital. "Our integrated systems management program was developed by a team who was committed to ensuring patient safety and delivering better healthcare."

The hospital's biomedical engineering team revised its procedures for incoming inspections and ongoing device oversight to include verifying the cybersecurity of networked devices and the protected health information they contain.

"The cybersecurity risk with medical devices is a serious and emerging concern which most hospitals have yet to significantly address," says ECRI Institute's James Keller, Jr., vice president, health technology evaluation and safety. "We congratulate Methodist Hospital for this important initiative—it sets a great example for other hospitals on how to tackle this issue."

Experts from Methodist Hospital of Southern California are featured presenters in ECRI Institute's October 16, 2013, web conference, "Tackling Medical Device Cybersecurity." A formal award presentation will be made at Methodist Hospital of Southern California on November 7, 2013. A complete description of the award-winning initiative will be featured in an upcoming edition of ECRI Institute's Health Devices journal and on the ECRI Institute website.

Finalists for the 2013 Health Devices Achievement Award (listed alphabetically) and their winning submissions are: 

• Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA:  Telemetry Task Force Alarm Reduction Strategies
• Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada:  Implementation of an Effective Clinical Technology Management Program
• Geisinger Health System, Danville, PA:  Clinical Capital Technology:  Assessment, Planning and Optimization
• Halton Healthcare Services, Toronto, Ontario, Canada:  Implementation of an Electronic Positive Patient Identification System for Specimen Collection
• Novant Health, Fort Wayne, IN:  Clinical Equipment Management Program
• Parkview Health System, Winston-Salem, NC:  Supply Chain Management Performance Improvement  

To learn more about this year's Health Devices Achievement Award winner and finalists, visit our Winners Circle.

For more information about ECRI Institute's Health Devices Achievement Award or about becoming a member of ECRI Institute's medical technology procurement and management programs, contact ECRI Institute at (610) 825-6000, ext. 5891, visit www.ecri.org, e-mail [email protected] mail ECRI Institute, 5200 Butler Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462-1298, USA.

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 are best to enable improved patient care. As pioneers in this science for 45 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. Find ECRI Institute on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ECRIInstitute) and on Twitter (www.twitter.com/ECRI_Institute).

SOURCE ECRI Institute