Electronic Health Reporter

In this series, we are featuring some of the thousands of vendors who will be participating in the HIMSS15 conference and trade show. Through it, we hope to offer readers a closer look at some of the solution providers who will either be in attendance – with a booth showcasing and displaying key products and offerings – or that will have a presence of some kind at the show – key executives in attendance or presenting, for example.

Hopefully this series will give you a bit more useful information about the companies that help make this event, and the industry as a whole, so exciting.

Elevator Pitch

Curaspan offers effective and efficient solutions to help automate and standardize the care transition process, ultimately improving quality of care and financial outcomes through the use of care transition software.

About Statement

Curaspan is a provider of patient-transition solutions that help the top healthcare providers nationwide manage all aspects of transition planning. Its best-in-breed solutions automate transition of care workflows to create efficiencies and reduce process variation across networks of providers. With a secure platform for collaboration between providers and the analytics necessary to optimize performance, Curaspan’s solutions are the foundation for initiatives like ACOs, HIEs, value-based purchasing and other evolving models of care and reimbursement.

Founder’s Story

Curaspan started with a broken hip. When co-founder Tom Ferry’s wife’s grandmother broke her hip, the family quickly discovered that managing the transition from the hospital to a nursing home was far more difficult than anticipated. An experienced banking industry executive, Tom decided to create software to facilitate the process by automating the most laborious aspects—referring to the model as the “Travelocity for healthcare transitions,” Tom founded Curaspan in 1999. By 2001, Curaspan was the first company in the industry to automate the patient transition process and, as of this year, the company handles more than 20 percent of discharges from U.S. hospitals.

Services and Products Offered

Curaspan offers the following services:

For Hospitals:

• DischargeCentral, an application that helps automate and standardize much of the transitions of care process, dramatically reducing time spent on manual processes
• OutreachCentral, an application that automates the daunting task of following up with patients discharged to home from both inpatient care and emergency departments within 72 hours
• RideCentral, a service for hospitals to streamline the ordering and dispatching of non-emergent transportation for patients and gets patients to the next level of care quickly
• ReviewCentral, an application that expedites the utilization review process by electronically sending authorization packets to payers

For Post-Acute and Home Care Providers:

• ReferralCentral, an application that provides real-time online referral management
• RideCentral, a service for providers to streamline the ordering and dispatching of non-emergent transportation for patients and gets patients to the next level of care quickly

For Payers:

• ReviewCentral, an application that expedites the utilization review process by electronically sharing authorization packets between hospitals and payers.

Problems Solved

In 2001, Curaspan rolled out the first-ever automated solution to a very complicated problem — how to streamline and improve the fax, phone, paper-based and highly regulated process of discharging and transitioning patients from hospitals. Curaspan continues to improve transitions of care by sending healthcare providers real-time necessary patient information to facilitate a smooth transition to the next level of care.

Value Proposition

Curaspan’s value proposition is to effectively connect healthcare providers so patients receive the right level of care, at the right time, from the right provider. The last 15 years have been focused on making the care transition process more efficient through workflow tools, connectivity and analytics.

Key Messages

At HIMSS, Eric Chetwynd, director of product strategy and Rob Fisher, vice president of sales will be speaking at sessions to discuss key industry issues that Curaspan aims to solve. The session titles are “Using Technology to Engage Communities and Improve Outcomes,” which will be presented by Rob, and “MU2 Transitions of Care with ‘Best-of-Breed’ Approach,” being presented by Eric.

Booth Number

Booth #8339

Key Executives at Conference

• Tom Ferry, CEO and co-Founder
• Charlie Shelley, senior vice president of sales and marketing
• Eric Chetwynd, director of product strategy

Clients Served

Hospitals, post-acute and home care providers, payers and transport companies

Selling Proposition

Care transitions are the foundation for all healthcare initiatives now and in the future. Automated care transitions reduce process variation, create efficiencies and result in better financial outcomes and patient care.

When Founded

1999

Number of full-time employees

138

Headquarters

Newton, MA

Booth Bait (Swag) Offered

Need a recharge? The Curaspan booth has you covered with chargers of all types; both portable and plug-ins if you want to hang out in the café. There will be a fully equipped café located in the Curaspan booth offering light refreshments.

Number of Previous HIMSS Conference Appearances

This will be the first time Curaspan will be in attendance at HIMSS.

Specific Reason for Attendance

Curaspan will be attending HIMSS this year to exhibit and present the Curaspan brand and business model.

Industry Outlook (What’s the most important, trend, topic or challenge the organization faces?)

Trend = Value-based care and care transitions

Challenge: Establishing care transitions as the foundation for ACOs, HIEs, value-based purchasing and other evolving models of care and reimbursement

Trend = Interoperability

Challenge: Having providers understand they need for automated care transitions to better manage populations and costs.