Five OSUMC hospitals sought to improve their post-acute care (PAC) discharge process and wanted a system that could offer what their current referral tool could not: the ability to track and assess quality measures, the management of referrals across the care spectrum (e.g. inpatient and outpatient settings), and the flexibility to accommodate diverse patient populations as their services grew.

EEH wanted to improve patient transfers to post-acute care facilities, but their ability to offer patients the best provider options were limited. COVID-19 had exacerbated these issues, because providers were managing overwhelming patient volumes as well. It became clear to EEH that to weather this pandemic, it was more critical than ever to have access to more provider options for their patients.

Vanderbilt continued to be challenged by a daily bed capacity problem which created significant queuing in the ED because floor beds were occupied. Furthermore, the acuity of patients at VUMC coupled with their complex, psychosocial needs created discharge barriers that were challenging to resolve, delaying discharges when the patient was medically ready.