HealthManagement, Volume 10 - Issue 5, 2010
ECRI Institute® has named Kaiser Permanente, a healthcare provider and not-forprofit health plan, as the winner of the 5th annual health devices achievement award for excellence in health technology management. The award recognises an outstanding initiative under taken by an ECRI Institute member healthcare institution that improves patient safety, reduces costs, or otherwise facilitates better strategic management of health technology.
Kaiser Permanente's winning submission describes its groundbreaking initiatives, the National Total Joint Replacement Registry (TJRR) and the Cardiac Device Registry (CDR). These are comprehensive databases covering almost 150,000 joint replacement and cardiac implants from regions across the United States. The registries allow the analysis of implant statistics, including complications, failures, replacements, usage, and costs. Mining these data identifies the most effective devices and surgical techniques, as well as patients who are at risk for re-operations and surgical complications.
Further information is available on www.ecri.org
