Newswise — Philadelphia, PA - RightCare Solutions, the company co-founded by Penn Nursing professor Kathryn Bowles, PhD, RN, FAAN, was awarded 'Game Changing Healthcare Company of the Year' at the 21st Annual Enterprise Awards presented by PACT, the Greater Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies on May 8, 2014. The award recognizes a company that provides innovative solutions with the potential to make a large and positive impact on cost, quality, and access in healthcare.

"Discharge planners are overwhelmed with the volume of complex patients churning through our hospitals," said Dr. Bowles, the van Ameringen Chair in Nursing Excellence and a leading expert in the field of discharge planning and transitional care. "We are eager to support their decision making with tools like the Discharge Decision Support System (D2S2) so our patients get the right care and achieve improved outcomes."

Dr. Kathy Bowles began investigating the question of why so many hospital patients were being discharged without adequate post-acute care plans—and being readmitted within 30 days. The answer to this question led to the creation of the RightCare software 'Discharge Decision Support System,' also known as D2S2, developed by Dr. Bowles and a team of experts after nearly a decade of academic research and roughly $5M in aggregate NIH funding. Through Penn's UPstart program, Dr. Bowles and co-inventor Mary Naylor, PhD, FAAN, RN, the Marian S. Ware Professor in Gerontology and the Director of Penn Nursing's NewCourtland Center for Transitions and Health, licensed the D2S2 software tool to RightCare Solutions, a company co-founded by Penn, Bowles, and Wharton MBA graduate Eric Heil, who serves as the company's CEO.

“We are so honored that PACT has selected RightCare as the recipient of this award. Philadelphia is an established hub of healthcare and medical technology companies, and to be recognized among so many is extremely humbling,” said Eric Heil, Co-founder, President and CEO of RightCare. “Our mission has always been to deliver a technology solution that helps streamline the continuum of care while helping providers deliver the right care with better outcomes for patients. This recognition highlights that our software solution does help improve quality and reduce healthcare costs on a national scale.”

The Enterprise Awards remain the region's most prestigious business honors for technology and life sciences companies, leaders, and entrepreneurs. Attracting more than 1,000 prominent business leaders, the Enterprise Awards celebrate achievement, innovation, and success in the Greater Philadelphia region. PACT works diligently to position its members for growth and success through a wide variety of industry-specific resources, information, and education. Each year, PACT offers more than 40 high-quality programs designed to enhance the knowledge and productivity of its member companies.

The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing is one of the world’s leading schools of nursing and is ranked the #1 nursing school in the United States by U.S. News & World Report. Penn Nursing is consistently among the nation’s top recipients of nursing research funding from the National Institutes of Health. Penn Nursing prepares nurse scientists and nurse leaders to meet the health needs of a global society through research, education and practice.