Edna May's family needed to find a facility that was close by and would address her specific needs, and a home that would reflect her zest for life and make her feel comfortable. Finding the right facility was frustrating for the family, given that Edna May's overworked nurses lacked the time and information to advise them. Over the next couple of years, she made a number of trips between the hospital and several nursing homes. With each transition, her family experienced the same problems.
The husband of Edna May’s granddaughter was convinced that there had to be a better way, and that technology could help. Soon afterwards, Tom Ferry founded a company to fill the void that his family discovered as Edna May transitioned between health-care providers.
(Edna May Dodd and Tom Ferry, 1988)
Tom’s research revealed that patient-transition inefficiencies were not limited to the hospital where Edna May had stayed. Far from it. At hospital after hospital, he found nurses, social workers and other health-care professionals spending hours locating patient charts, removing staples, copying medical records and sending faxes — time and effort that would have been better spent on patient care. Tom also found that most senior hospital executives were unaware of the inefficiencies and costs associated with poorly executed discharge planning. Increased length of stay and readmissions. Decreased clinician and patient satisfaction. His vision of a solution was taking shape.
The year following Edna May’s ordeal, Tom established what is now Curaspan Health GroupTM with one clear goal: to develop simple-to-use software that generates tangible benefits with demonstrable results. In 2000, eDischargeTM debuted as the company’s first product and the industry’s first automated patient-transition software application. Today, it’s the best: eDischarge won the 2009 Best in KLAS Award for discharge planning from KLAS, a leading health-care IT research firm. With more than two thousand customers nationwide and a rich, growing product suite, Curaspan now enhances thousands of patient transitions each day for hospitals, post-acute facilities and transportation companies — and most importantly, for patients like Edna May Dodd and their families.
