Why I sold Sphere3....and what's next.

A few people have asked why I would sell Sphere3 to a little known “nurse call” company.  I know nurse call better than most people, I understand its origins and its purpose….I know the market and the players….and what needs to be done to take it to the next level.  

But let’s start with the story….because otherwise, to those who don’t know the history, it seems odd for someone to say that first sentence.

My story actually begins with my Dad.  He is an engineering genius (just to brag about him a bit) who started a systems integration firm in the 1970s. When I was about 6, he became a Rauland distributor and it was my first time to see a nurse call system. When I was 12, I started working at the family business – the nurse call was a toy and the RTLS demo was my doll house.  The summer I turned 14, I went to R4 “school” with my sister, taught by the one and only Harry Hahn. When I was 24, I sold my first nurse call system and around that time I started working with Michael McNeal at Emergin.  (Little gap in there was high school, college, and designing sound systems.) To say that nurse call is in my blood – well that might be an understatement – more like part of my DNA. 

Fast forward 5 more years....After the birth of my #4 son, we had an incident in the hospital which spurred the launch of Sphere3, a consulting company that supported hospitals with decisions around leveraging technology to transform the care environment. I met incredible people like Jennifer Jackson (Cedars-Siani now Massimo) and worked with amazing hospitals. We catapulted forward by showing that the data from nurse call was more than just a way to diagnosis a technical issue – it was a way to examine clinical workload, patient safety, and even patient satisfaction.  That was the birth of my beloved software Aperum (and her lovely patents). 

I started a thought leadership blog and received advice and mentorship from industry leaders. It was free education, and it shaped my vision of the future. Some of the industry’s most impressive players took time to share, encourage, and even mentor.  You might recognize the names: Tom Herzog (Cerner now Netsmart), Tony Marsico (PCTS now Rauland), Nurse Sue Niemeier (Capsuletech now Ivinex), John Elms (Connexall now Critical Alert), Clay Patterson (Cerner now Zaarly), Tom Payne (Rauland now Ascom), Bill Foster (Ascom now Spectralink), Chris Heim (Amcom/Spok now HelpSystem), Todd Plesko (Extension now Syft), Mike Gallup (Hill-Rom now Century Vision), Brian McAlpine (Capsuletech now Bernoulli), Tim Gee,  Trey Lauderdale (Voalte now Hill-Rom), and so many more.  

Their generosity of time and insight formed my opinion of what nurse call could be someday.  That’s the truth, right? As we go along, our existing beliefs of how things should function are based on today’s technology – these beliefs will be transformed by thought leaders of tomorrow.   In more recent years, I have been heavily influenced by Gartner’s Barry Runyon and Vi Schaffer, but more importantly by the voice of our clients.  The CNOs and CIOs, the technology directors and nursing leaders asking for things that technology simply can’t deliver today.

That’s why I selected Critical Alert as the company that not only would acquire Sphere3, but I would join the team going forward.  Over the past 10 years, I built a company, but I also built relationships with hospital leaders and the who’s who of this industry.  My mind has dreamed of where patient communications will go in the future. That dream does not include the limitation of things that screw to the wall. A “system” that is flexible because it’s managed by software….maybe anyone’s software (wouldn’t that be a dream)…..a software platform that isn’t limited by the hardware in the wall.. I have blogged in the past about the commoditization of nurse call  and I do believe that it has arrived. The big players are shackled by their long-standing beliefs around hardware.    Driving decisions about workflow to the wall instead of to the hands of the caregivers.

That’s why I selected Critical Alert – not only as the company that would own my beloved Aperum, but as a company that would be the thought-leader in the market and provide the future of patient communications. A company that supports the vision of having a strong software, technology and Clinical Advisory Service team.

As we launch the Patient Event Bus, we are breaking ground on the future.  The bus consumes data from anything that rings, dings, or buzzes and indicates a patient’s condition or need. It balances the immediate need for notification regarding a patient’s care with information collected, compiled, dissected, and reimagined into tools that support transformation of process in real time.

People ask me – why don’t you retire, dream a new dream, find a new idea…..easy answer:

I am not done yet.