ECRI Report Highlights AI Governance and Cybersecurity as Top Patient Safety Issues
In a new report, the Emergency Care Research Institute (ECRI) has identified insufficient governance of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care as one of the top patient safety concerns for 2025, warning that AI-driven errors could result in misdiagnoses and inappropriate treatment decisions. The nonprofit, which publishes an annual report on key risks to patient safety, placed AI governance second on its list, citing the potential for AI to improve health care outcomes while also posing significant risks. ECRI emphasized that medical errors linked to AI can be difficult to identify and track, making their impact even more concerning.
To address these risks, ECRI recommends that health care providers establish multidisciplinary committees to evaluate new AI-driven technologies and regularly assess their safety and clinical impact. The report also highlights other critical threats to patient safety, including cybersecurity breaches, which ranked fourth on the list due to their potential to delay care, increase complications, and lead to higher mortality rates. ECRI urges health care organizations to routinely evaluate cybersecurity vulnerabilities, particularly in connected medical devices, to mitigate these risks.
Diagnostic errors also made the list, ranking seventh, with a focus on misdiagnoses of cancers, vascular events, and infections—conditions that account for the most serious malpractice claims. The report attributes these errors primarily to human and organizational shortcomings rather than flaws in diagnostic tests themselves. Other concerns include the spread of medical misinformation, the threat of substandard or falsified drugs, and communication failures during patient discharge. As health care technology continues to evolve, ECRI’s findings underscore the need for proactive governance and risk management to ensure patient safety remains a top priority.
“To effectively understand where vulnerabilities lie, leaders must examine all elements of the system—people, organizations, tasks and processes, tools and technology, and the physical environment,” the organization stated. “Each topic in this year's Top 10 represents a failure in at least one of these areas; in fact, many overlap and their roots are found in multiple areas.”
References
Taylor NP. ECRI warns insufficient AI governance threatens patient safety. Healthcare Dive. Published March 11, 2025. Accessed March 13, 2025. https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/ecri-patient-safety-report-2025-ai/742148/
Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns 2025. ECRI. Published March 10, 2025. Accessed March 13, 2025. https://home.ecri.org/blogs/ecri-thought-leadership-resources/top-10-patient-safety-concerns-2025
