ECRI Institute and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) announce the successful completion of their plans to join forces. Effective January 2, ISMP is an ECRI Institute affiliate.
ECRI Institute and ISMP are global nonprofit organizations that promote patient safety by sharing adverse effects, near misses and unsafe conditions, including ones associated with pharmaceutical product, and medical device use. Four out of five U.S. hospitals rely on ECRI Institute’s data and recommendations to protect patients from unsafe practices and ineffective products. Moreover, during its 25-year history, ISMP has improved clinical practice and informed public policy changes, including drug labeling, packaging, and administration practices.
“The healthcare industry urgently needs independent, fact-based, transparent evaluations of new technologies and treatments to ensure quality of care and patient safety,” says ECRI Institute President and CEO Marcus Schabacker, MD, PhD. “This affiliation strengthens our capabilities and accelerates the creation of additional value for those we serve throughout healthcare, most importantly, patients.”
Under the terms of the affiliation agreement, ISMP will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of ECRI Institute. Both organizations retain their core missions and business operations, and seek opportunities to collaborate and develop new products and services. ISMP President Michael Cohen, RPh, MS, FASHP, and Executive Vice President Allen J. Vaida, PharmD, FASHP, continue to lead ISMP, working closely with ECRI Institute executives. Schabacker and two other ECRI leaders have joined ISMP’s board of trustees.
“This affiliation is the natural evolution of a stronger partnership between two leading organizations dedicated to improving patient safety,” says Cohen. “We will now be able to work more closely together to share lifesaving information and further a vision where safe, high-quality healthcare is more readily available.”
