In this Medtech Matters podcast episode of Mike on Medtech with Mike Drues, president of Vascular Sciences, we’re looking at the latest annual list put out by ECRI, an independent authority on healthcare technology and safety, on their top 10 health technology hazards for 2024. The full list is available at the organization’s website, which is at www.ecri.org. Specifically, the following questions are addressed:

• What is ECRI and what is the purpose of this list?
• Number one on the list is medical devices for the home. Specifically, they indicate medical devices may pose usability challenges for home users, risking misuse and patient harm. Can you please explain why this would be number one on the list? What’s the issue with usability?
• The second item on the list involves inadequate or onerous device cleaning instructions. So this isn’t really about cleaning protocols, but rather the instructions that indicate how the device should be cleaned. What’s the concern here?
• The fourth item is regarding the sustainability trend. Specifically, ECRI states this one as overlooked environmental impacts of patient care endanger public health. This is more of a product design issue, correct?
• Another hot topic item, number five calls out insufficient governance of AI used in medical technologies risks inappropriate care decisions. Is this indicating we should avoid relying too heavily on decisions indicated by AI and ensure clinician overview of findings?
• Still another hot button, cybersecurity issues ranks at number six on the list. Specifically, it is listed as ransomware targeting the healthcare sector remains a critical threat. This ties in directly to the significant efforts being put forth to ensure connected devices have a cybersecurity plan in place, correct?
• What are the takeaways?

Listen to this discussion and see what you think of these items on the list or what was missed and should have been on the list. If you’d like to share thoughts, ask questions, or have a suggestion for a future topic for us to cover, please reach out to me at [email protected] and we’ll see if we want to address your ideas/inquiries/suggestions in a future episode.

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