Plymouth Meeting-based ECRI Institute and Horsham-based Institute for Safe Medication Practices will merge early next year into one of the world’s largest independent patient-safety groups, writes Sam Wood for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The ECRI Institute was founded in 1968 as the Emergency Care Research Institute. Today it has 500 employees and offices in Dubai, London, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Meanwhile, the ISMP started its efforts to prevent medication error in 1975. It has 25 employees who will eventually migrate to ECRI’s Plymouth Meeting headquarters.

According to the leaders of both organizations, the partnership is a natural fit.

“Our organizations have been working for a long time together in both formal and informal relationships,” said Marcus Schabacker, president and CEO of ECRI. “Our missions are very similar. We’re both evidence-based and focused on patient safety.”

He added that the merger made sense due to the incredibly fast pace of evolution in health care.

Now the two groups have created a five-year strategic plan that includes expanding their focus from investigations in hospitals to elder care, long-term care facilities, ambulatory care centers, and home-use devices.

Read more about the merger at The Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.

.

[uam_ad id=”64837″]