New Recall Management Tool Matches Alerts Directly to Hospitals' Equipment Inventory Data

PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA—The faster a hospital responds to a product safety alert or recall, the safer its patients are. But with dozens of alerts and recalls issued every week by FDA, manufacturers, and other organizations, how can busy hospital staff quickly see which ones have the potential to affect their own patients?Today, ECRI Institute announces the release of Automatch™ for Equipment, the newest enhancement to its Alerts Tracker™ automated recall management solution used by hospitals and health systems worldwide. Alerts Tracker with Automatch now automatically identifies equipment models and supplies within a healthcare facility's inventory that are impacted by an alert or recall, and notifies designated department staff.

"We were the first to automatically match alerts automatically to a hospital's supply inventory data," states Eric Sacks, ECRI Institute's director of healthcare product alerts. "We are excited to announce that with the release of Automatch for Equipment,we can now match each alert to our member hospitals' inventory of affected equipment models as well, providing a more complete patient safety solution."

Automatch promotes efficiency, reliability, and enhanced patient safety for hospitals, health systems, integrated delivery networks (IDNs), physician practices, and other healthcare providers who are challenged with managing, distributing, and addressing thousands of alerts and recalls that may or may not affect them. It dramatically reduces the need for manual inventory database searches.

Matching Recalls Directly to Hospital Inventory Data

"We have a very strong and loyal community of Alerts Tracker member hospitals who share their problems and challenges around recall management with us every day," continues Sacks. "By developing innovative solutions like Automatch for Equipment, we are helping them to address those challenges head on."

Alerts Tracker Automatch for Equipment cleans the data in a hospital or health system's inventory by matching it to ECRI Institute's standardized database of medical devices. This eliminates duplications and disparities upfront.

The experienced Alerts Tracker team offers ongoing support to its members with personalized implementation, expert reporting tools, and guidance on developing sound policies and practices.

Alerts Tracker Automatch for Equipment will officially debut at the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation AAMI 2016 Conference and Expo in Tampa, FL, June 3–6, 2016. Demonstrations will be available at ECRI Institute's Booth #622 in the Exhibit Hall.

For more information or a demonstration of the Alerts Tracker Automatch for Equipment, please visit www.ecri.org/alertstracker, contact ECRI Institute by telephone at (610) 825-6000, ext. 5891; by e-mail at [email protected]; by fax at (610) 834-1275; or by mail at 5200 Butler Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462. ECRI's European office can be contacted at [email protected]; ECRI's Malaysian office can be contacted at a[email protected]; and ECRI's Middle Eastern office can be contacted at [email protected].

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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 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. Find ECRI Institute on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ECRIInstitute) and on Twitter (www.twitter.com/ECRI_Institute).

For more information, contact:
Laurie Menyo, Director of Public Relations
[email protected]
(610) 825-6000, ext. 5310