ANN ARBOR, Mich., and PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Medstat, a business of The Thomson Corporation (TSX: TOC; NYSE: TOC), and ECRI, a nonprofit international health services research agency, announced today they have created an expanded and significantly enhanced database that enables healthcare organizations to assess the impact of emerging medical technologies. With this tool, healthcare professionals can tap into the most comprehensive body of research available to forecast how new technologies, treatments and procedures will change demand for specific medical services.
“This will allow our customers to anticipate the changing technological landscape and make sound decisions regarding clinical service line development, business plans, facilities development, and marketing strategies,” said Medstat Vice President Laurie Lee. “For example, use of drug-eluting stents in clinical procedures will alter inpatient and outpatient volumes as well as length of stay and overall reimbursement potential for a treatment.”
This collaboration combines Medstat’s extensive healthcare utilization data and demand forecasting tools and expertise with ECRI’s three decades of experience evaluating healthcare technologies based on the best available evidence. The new database, available via the Medstat Market Expert platform, integrates Medstat’s market planning information with insights on technology diffusion from ECRI’s Health Technology Forecast(TM), a Web-based strategic technology planning resource, as well as from ECRI’s evidence-based technology assessment reports, research, and analysis. Users, who have full access to the underlying database, can customize and alter technology adoption rates in real time to test various scenarios and reflect specific clinical practices and local market dynamics.
“This new capability enables healthcare organizations to model and test scenarios involving various service area definitions, product lines, technology adoption rates, and market share. It’s a powerful way to apply ECRI’s extensive, collective knowledge about new and emerging patient care technologies -- including drugs, devices, procedures, and services -- that are currently in development or soon to emerge from the research pipeline into the marketplace,” said ECRI Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Anthony J. Montagnolo, M.S.
Medstat (http://www.medstat.com/ ) is a healthcare information company that provides market intelligence and benchmark databases, decision support solutions, and research services for managing the cost and quality of healthcare. The company applies these capabilities to improve policy and management decision making for employers, government agencies, health plans, hospitals and provider networks, and pharmaceutical companies. Medstat is a business within The Thomson Corporation. The Thomson Corporation (http://www.thomson.com/ ), with 2003 revenues of $7.6 billion, is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. Thomson provides value-added information, software applications and tools to more than 20 million users in the fields of scientific research and healthcare, law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference information, corporate training and assessment. With operational headquarters in Stamford, Conn., Thomson has approximately 39,000 employees and provides services in approximately 130 countries. The Corporation’s common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (TSX: TOC; NYSE: TOC).
ECRI (http://www.ecri.org/ ), a nonprofit international health services research agency, is a Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization and an Evidence-based Practice Center as designated by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. ECRI is the world’s leading independent nonprofit organization committed to improving the safety, efficacy, and cost- effectiveness of healthcare technology. The results of ECRI’s research and experience are available through its databases, publications, information systems, technical assistance, laboratory services, professional seminars, conferences, and fellowships.
Medstat
CONTACT: David Wilkins of Medstat, +1-734-913-3397,david.wilkins@thomson.com ; or Laurie Menyo of ECRI, +1-610-825-6000, ext.5310, lmenyo@ecri.org
