SHERIDAN, WYOMING - April 14, 2026 - ECRI, the independent nonprofit that is the only U.S. organization holding dual designation as both an Evidence-based Practice Center and a Patient Safety Organization, has published its Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for 2026, making the report available for immediate download to healthcare executives, safety officers, and clinical decision-makers. The release arrives as the organization's own cited data underscores the scale of the systemic challenge: one in four patients experiences an adverse event during inpatient care, and preventable harm costs U.S. healthcare organizations an estimated $20 billion each year. ECRI works with approximately two out of three U.S. healthcare providers, giving its annual safety priorities report broad operational reach across the sector. The report draws on a proprietary dataset of more than 8 million safety events-described by ECRI as the largest patient safety organization dataset in the industry.
Business Impact
The $20 billion annual cost of preventable harm, sourced from peer-reviewed clinical literature, positions patient safety as a measurable financial liability sitting alongside clinical and regulatory obligations on health system balance sheets. ECRI's advisory services are structured to convert that liability into actionable safety improvements, with Patient Safety Advisory Services, Supply Chain Intelligence, and independent device evaluation as its primary service lines. The Supply Chain Intelligence offering operates from GPO-agnostic datasets, enabling procurement and clinical teams to identify savings, manage supply disruptions that affect patient care, and make sourcing decisions without vendor influence. For payers and insurers-named segments in ECRI's client base-the adverse event cost burden translates directly into claims exposure, positioning ECRI's event data as a potential input for risk modeling and value-based contract design.
Operational Framework
ECRI's core methodology is organized around Total Systems Safety, an evidence-based approach that prioritizes designing resilient safety systems over reacting to isolated incidents. The framework is grounded in advanced safety science and systems thinking and is applied across acute care, ambulatory, senior care, and rural healthcare settings. The organization's service portfolio includes an embedded collaboration with ISMP-the Institute for Safe Medication Practices-covering medication error prevention through newsletters, consulting, and membership programs. The Just Culture Company, also part of ECRI's portfolio, addresses staff accountability and organizational safety culture, providing a behavioral layer to complement the technical and procedural elements of ECRI's broader safety architecture.
Data Infrastructure
ECRI's PSO dataset of more than 8 million reported events constitutes the empirical backbone of its advisory output and annual reporting. Healthcare organizations can contribute through dedicated submission channels for medication and vaccine errors, device problems, and accident investigation requests, continuously expanding the dataset's scope and currency. The dual EPC and PSO designation enables ECRI to produce guidance that carries the authority of both independent academic research and real-world event reporting-a combination that structurally differentiates it from commercially affiliated consultancies. The annual Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns report is a primary output of this process, providing health system leaders with a consolidated, data-grounded view of the sector's most pressing risks heading into each year.
Sector Reach and Independence
Founded more than five decades ago by Dr. Joel Nobel following a preventable patient tragedy, ECRI has built its market position on nonprofit independence and the deliberate absence of product vendor affiliations. It operates the only independent medical device testing laboratory globally with facilities in both North America and Asia Pacific, supporting unbiased technology assessments for health systems, government agencies, and device manufacturers. Its client base spans acute care hospitals, ambulatory providers, senior care operators, rural health systems, insurers, and government purchasers. Headquartered in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, ECRI also maintains global offices and produces on-demand education, webinars, and the ECRI Now podcast to extend advisory reach beyond institutional memberships.
Key facts:
- One in four patients experiences an adverse event during inpatient care (Bates et al., NEJM, 2023)
- Preventable harm costs U.S. healthcare organizations an estimated $20 billion annually
- ECRI's PSO dataset exceeds 8 million reported safety events-the largest in the industry
- ECRI is the only U.S. organization designated as both an Evidence-based Practice Center and a Patient Safety Organization
- Approximately two out of three U.S. healthcare providers rely on ECRI expertise