Local Startup Saving Lives through Improved Hospital Patient Handoffs

Thousands of hospital patients die each year due to communication errors as medical providers hand off patients as they’re changing shifts or transferring patients. Critical medical information frequently gets lost or miscommunicated. In fact, it’s estimated that 30% of malpractice claims are caused by communication errors.

Jocelyn Munroe was working as programmer at UC Davis when a resident physician asked her if she could modify some patient sign out software to work for a neurologist. She dove in and did that and then made the software customizable for any discipline. She would eventually, in her spare time, rewrite the system and launch her startup eHandoff, an online online patient note system for doctors and nurses for when they’re changing shifts or transferring patients.

She signed up her first client in 2011 and incorporated her startup eHandoff in 2012. Since that time she’s built a team and bootstrapped her business and now sells the system to hospitals all over the U.S. This small, scrappy Sacramento startup has so far not received any outside funding but has been cashflow positive for years and continues to grow.

I recently met with Jocelyn at her office to learn more about her startup experiences as well as what it was like to participate in and win, StartupSac’s first pitch event, the StartupSac Warm-Up Pitch event held in December. Check out the video or audio podcast below to learn more.