ECRI announces the release of a value analysis workflow solution that drives team transparency, clinical engagement, and improves efficiency of the medical product decision-making process. ECRI’s Value Analysis Workflow empowers supply chain leaders, value analysis teams, and clinicians to reach consensus on complex technology purchasing decisions based on sound clinical evidence.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is tightening financial pressures on an already strained healthcare system,” says Marcus Schabacker, MD, PhD, ECRI’s president and CEO. “Our new value analysis workflow adds much-needed transparency, safety, and clinical evidence assurance that leaders can rely on to stretch scarce resources when selecting new patient-care technologies.”

ECRI’s Value Analysis Workflow integrates pricing and utilization analytics, evidence-based assessments, and comparative product evaluations to reduce clinical spend and enhance patient outcomes.

The cloud-based project management tool includes three major enhancements:

  1. Visual workflow: Increases efficiency by providing organization-level transparency on the status of any project under consideration
  2. Mobile notifications: Makes it easy for clinicians and value analysis members to review, research, and approve project tasks directly from mobile devices
  3. Automated decision logic: Automatically routes supporting financial, technical or clinical evidence to the correct person for approval ensuring the right people are making the best decisions

The workflow application adds efficiency by integrating clinicians and all members of the value analysis team into the process, streamlining decisions. Hospital Sisters Health System, a multi-institutional healthcare system in Illinois and Wisconsin, for instance, shortened request turnaround times by 76%, reducing the time to completion to approximately 14 to 18 days.

“Unlike other workflow solutions, ECRI embeds trusted, unbiased clinical evidence analysis and guidance into our services to inform clinical decisions and improve patient outcomes,” adds Karen Schoelles, MD, vice president, clinical excellence and safety, ECRI.