Care transitions: Interview with Curaspan CEO Tom Ferry

[audio mp3="https://healthbb.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/hbdew0032-david-e-williams-interviews-curaspan-ceo-tom-ferry.mp3"][/audio]When Tom Ferry co-founded Curaspan back in 1999, discharge planning wasn't the sexiest arena for a Harvard MBA to jump into. But he was on to something because 15 years later "transitions of care" is a mainstream term, there is a major focus on readmissions prevention, and post-acute care is universally recognized as the greatest opportunity for cost savings. Curaspan is right in the thick of it.Though we both live in Boston, I met up with Tom at the #HIMSS15 conference in Chicago. Curaspan is exhibiting at HIMSS for the first time, and its booth is seeing a steady stream of traffic. In this podcast interview, Tom discusses the importance of care transitions and how Curaspan plays a role in addressing the challenges.

1. Why are transitions of care important? (0:08)
2. How does the hospital discharge process typically work? How should it work? (0:42)
3. There is tremendous variation in cost and quality in post acute care. Why? (1:23)
4. What role are new payment arrangements such as ACOs and bundled payments having on the discharge process? (1:53)
5. Hospitals are typically paid on a DRG basis for what happens in the hospital. If we move to an episode based system what will happen to post-acute providers such as skilled nursing facilities? (2:41)
6. Do you plan to incorporate data and analytics to determine where a patient should go based on their individual characteristics? (3:42)
7. How do patient and family engagement play into the discharge process? (5:16)
8. Why did you start Curaspan? How has the concept evolved since then? (6:25)
9. What products and services do you offer on the Curaspan platform? (7:23)
10. What are your objectives for the HIMSS conference? (8:42)

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By healthcare business consultant David E. Williams, president of Health Business Group.