ECRI is an independent, nonprofit international health services research organization located in suburban Philadelphia with satellite offices in the United Kingdom and Malaysia. ECRI provides information and technical assistance to the healthcare community to support safe and cost-effective patient care. The results of ECRI's research and experience are available through its publications, information systems, technical assistance, laboratory services, seminars, and fellowships. ECRI is a Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization (WHO). Under its WHO Terms of Reference, ECRI serves as the WHO Archives on Medical Technology and as the WHO Archives of Healthcare Standards and Guidelines.
ECRI has served as an AHRQ-designated EPC since 1997. While most EPCs are located within academic institutions, ECRI's evidence-based medicine and health technology assessment activities are funded in a public-private cooperative model that relies on a variety of Federal and State government funding, as well as commercial sales of ECRI's evidence-based health policy resources, available through its Health Technology Assessment Information Service (HTAIS). The resources of ECRI's technology assessment work are used by a wide variety of constituencies, including public and private payers, providers, clinical specialty societies, regulators, industry, and patients and their families.
ECRI's reputation rests on its technical competence and on its strict rules to prevent conflict of interest. ECRI does not accept gifts, grants, or contracts from the medical device or pharmaceutical industries, and it examines all employees' tax returns yearly to ensure that there are no investments in these industries. ECRI's technology assessment analysts are also prohibited from investing in insurance companies or managed care plans.
ECRI's evidence reports developed under AHRQ's EPC program include:
In addition to its capabilities in traditional health technology assessment methodology, the staff of the ECRI EPC also have expertise in research design and evaluation, outcomes data analysis and modeling, horizon scanning, and health policy analysis.
ECRI's other activities include such diverse areas as:
Under separate contracts with AHRQ, ECRI performs the technical work for both the National Guideline Clearinghouse™ (NGC) and the National Quality Measures Clearinghouse™ (NQMC). NGC is a database of clinical practice guidelines, funded by AHRQ in partnership with the American Medical Association and the American Association of Health Plans. NQMC, which is under development, is a database of evidence-based healthcare quality measures. Both these medical informatics tools support users' efforts to integrate evidence-based best practices into their healthcare decisions.
ECRI also provides health technology assessment services under contract to TRICARE Management Activity, the Department of Defense agency responsible for administering the health benefits of millions of armed services personnel and their families, reservists, and retirees.
ECRI has established relationships with the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (LDI) at the University of Pennsylvania. LDI will render clinical expertise and technical assistance in the development of ECRI EPC technology assessments and evidence reports.
Access the ECRI Home Page at:
http://www.ecri.org
Or contact:
ECRI
5200 Butler Pike
Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462-1298
Phone: (610) 825-6000
Fax: (610) 834-1275
E-mail: info@ecri.org
Vivian H. Coates, M.B.A.
Vice President for Information Services and
Technology Assessment
E-mail: vcoates@ecri.org
Charles Turkelson, Ph.D.
Chief Research Analyst
ECRI EPC Project Manager
E-mail: cturkelson@ecri.org
Janice L. Kaczmarek, M.A.
ECRI EPC Project Manager
E-mail: jkaczmarek@ecri.org
Current as of July 2002
Internet Citation:
ECRI, Evidence-based Practice Center. Profile, July 2002. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/epc/ecriepc.htm
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