ECRI Institute announced that it has received a three-year contract to establish and operate a new healthcare horizon scanning system for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).
ECRI says the Health Care Horizon Scanning System will help patients, clinicians, researchers, payers, and policy makers identify at an early stage new therapeutics and healthcare technologies that have the potential to be disruptive. Initially, the focus will be on interventions for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, cancer, cardiovascular conditions, mental and behavioral health conditions, and rare diseases. PCORI may choose to add additional clinical areas for horizon scanning in the future.
“Every day we hear about new technologies that may lead to breakthroughs in medical science and patient care,” said Karen Schoelles, MD, SM, FACP, vice president for clinical excellence and safety at ECRI Institute in the release. “We are excited to provide insights to help PCORI understand the need for future comparative effectiveness research and help other stakeholders plan for disruptive change.”
ECRI Institute will use advanced search methodology to identify, track, monitor, and evaluate health care interventions in research and development up to 3 years before they are expected to enter routine clinical care. Additionally, clinicians, health systems administrators, researchers, patients, and caregivers will be asked to contribute their unique perspectives. Their perspectives will help ECRI Institute assess the potential for these interventions to improve patient care, health care delivery processes, and reduce cost of care in the United States.
ECRI Institute ran the first U.S. healthcare horizon scanning system from 2010 to 2015 through a contract with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
The Protocol and Operations Manual for the Health Care Horizon Scanning System is available on the PCORI website.
