ECRI Institute’s 2018 Top 10 Hospital C-suite Watch List
As healthcare leaders tackle their capital planning and value analysis challenges in 2018, the last thing they’re looking for is an unwelcome surprise from another new technology that’s being hyped in the marketplace.
ECRI Institute, an independent nonprofit that researches the best approaches to improving patient care, announces the release of its annual Top 10 Hospital C-suite Watch List. The report helps healthcare leaders understand new and emerging innovations, including new apps to help treat opioid addiction, acuity-adaptable rooms, insertable cardiac monitors, and virtual reality for pediatric patients.
“This year we selected a range of technologies and infrastructure issues hospital leaders and their teams are facing, will be facing, or should consider,” says Diane C. Robertson, director, Health Technology Assessment, ECRI Institute.
Topping the list this year is the first FDA-approved medical app for opioid addiction. A form of telehealth, the app offers a way to strengthen recovery with ongoing, long-term support.
Direct-to-consumer genetic testing, coming in at No. 2, is changing how frontline clinicians interact with patients who pursue tests on their own.
“Hospital leaders often are not aware how much lab budgets are being blown by genetic testing, inappropriate use from lack of evidence-based information, and unreimbursed testing. Now that direct-to-consumer testing provides health information to patients, it will drive them to seek attention to understand the implications of their test results,” adds Robertson.
Other topics include microhospitals; a non-invasive device for treating Alzheimer’s disease; neonatal MRI systems in the NICU; GammaTile™ Cs-131 radiation therapy for fighting brain tumors; and a special needle for reducing pain during blood draw.