ECRI has named Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Cottage Health the winner of its 2026 Health Technology Excellence Award, the nonprofit patient safety organization announced July 29.
The award recognizes an ECRI member for an initiative that improves patient safety, cuts costs or advances the strategic management of health technology. Cottage Health earned the honor for an interfacility blood transfer program that reduces the waste of red blood cell units that expire before they can be transfused.
The system built a process to identify red blood cell units within 10 days of expiration and transfer them to its level 1 trauma-certified hospital, where higher utilization makes transfusion more likely.
The program uses validated temperature-controlled coolers and documentation steps that allow full traceability. Transfusion rates for transferred units climbed from 85.2% in the program’s first year to more than 98%. The financial benefit exceeds $100,000 annually.
“Cottage Health has demonstrated what is possible when organizations treat health technology management and resource stewardship as system-based challenges,” Scott Lucas, PhD, vice president of devices, therapeutics and technology at ECRI, said in a statement.
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