March 12, 2008 - Four Rivers Software Systems, a provider of computerized maintenance management systems for the healthcare industry, and ECRI Institute, an independent nonprofit that researches the best approaches to improving patient care, this week announced the availability of new, real-time interfaces for inventory management, hazard and recall alert applications.
This integration offers hospitals new interfaces between Four Rivers’ TMS and ECRI Institute’s Universal Medical Device Nomenclature System (UMDNS), a standard international nomenclature and computer coding system for medical devices, Health Devices International Sourcebase manufacturer codes, and Alerts Tracker. Alerts Tracker is a Web-based, automated patient safety system for alert and recall management that offers efficient inventory management and more effective response to alerts and recalls.
The companies say the new interface simplifies the process of responding to hazard and recall alerts, enabling users to establish whether equipment involved in a hazard or recall alert is in their inventories and identifies the steps for responding to the alert.
Alerts Tracker utilizes information from a number of sources, including ECRI Institute’s problem reporting investigations and medical device and drug recall information gathered from its extensive databases and resources, as well as from the FDA, manufacturers, and other sources. The alerts, hazards, and action items are then electronically distributed directly to appropriate staff.
Numerous healthcare organizations use TMS to manage capital equipment inventories, and to track and distribute associated maintenance activities. The new interface between TMS and ECRI Institute’s UMDNS and Health Devices International Sourcebase enables healthcare facilities to seamlessly access medical device and manufacturer codes directly from the TMS application, the companies said. Prior to the integration, existing TMS and ECRI Institute subscribers were required to work between two applications to locate, enter, and update their inventories.
For more information: www.ecri.org, www.frsoft.com

October 25, 2026 
