This article is sponsored by MatrixCare. In this Voices interview, Skilled Nursing News sits down with MatrixCare Chief Technology Officer John Weatherbie to learn the top ways that data analytics can be applied to improving operations, why nearly all referring hospitals are conducting business digitally, and why those health systems expect their partners to do the same.
Skilled Nursing News: John, what are the top career experiences that you most draw from in your role as CTO of MatrixCare?
John Weatherbie: There are three items I think about most when it comes to my past career experiences and how they influence me today. First is the time I spent in a direct-to-consumer technology environment. It drove home the importance of understanding the customer’s wants and needs so I could see them through an engineering lens. Second is my time at an Internet-facing organization that experienced a cybersecurity attack when that was still a relatively new phenomenon. When you’re in the trenches during an event like that, you see the disruption in your customers’ businesses, and in your business, you see the cost to remediate it and the importance of being proactive.
Third is my experience growing up as the son of a lobster fisherman. From the time I was old enough to walk, I was in a fishing boat experiencing the hard physical labor, ingenuity, planning and dedication that traditional jobs like that require. All of those skills and lessons are transferable to the technology environment. It’s not the same type of work, but the foundational aspects are very similar.
What value does data present for skilled nursing facilities and how can facilities unlock the potential of their data?
Weatherbie: From my perspective, data reflects the table stakes for how business is going to be conducted in the future. It’s literally the lifeblood of understanding what happens each day and what’s going to happen in your business. There are three phases when it comes to unlocking the potential of data. The first phase is where skilled nursing facilities collect as much data as possible about their operations, residents and system usage. This information is critical for analysis and enables an understanding of where there is room for improvement.
The second phase is being deliberate about the integrations with vendors and partners and sharing the appropriate amount of data with them to drive improved insights through retrospective analysis and predictive analytics.
This brings up the final phase, which is often underestimated: acting on those insights. Change is difficult in any business, but having a change-management plan enables you to sustainably implement change and achieve desired outcomes.
What are the top two to three ways that data analytics can be applied to improving operations?
Weatherbie: Data analytics creates a depth of understanding in every facet of your operations. It allows you to understand how market trends and day-to-day operations are impacting your business. Using retrospective patterns to determine historical outcomes and using predictive analytics to predict different outcomes or indicators are extremely valuable. It applies to billing, allocations and changes in your services, or services that you use with partners. You’re able to track the effectiveness of different partners and other participants throughout the resident care continuum.
Finally, the area we talk about most is the quality and efficacy of care transitions. It’s about making sure that you are doing business and cooperating with the best partners to serve your residents most effectively. Using analytics allows you to quantify these relationships and improve them accordingly.
What are the top two to three ways that data analytics can be applied to improving resident care?
Weatherbie: On the resident care side, data analytics helps augment decision-making so that staff can provide targeted care for residents. It doesn’t replace clinicians — it gives them additional tools to help provide better care and spend more time doing what they love.
Advanced clinical analytics models use hundreds of variables from millions of records to predict outcomes. Clinicians do the same thing based on their experience, but they have access to a much more limited data set and require significantly more time to analyze it. They have to prepare and review the patient history and comb through thousands of data points to determine what course of treatment to take.
One of my favorite statements from a nurse on our team is, “Predictive analytics makes me a better nurse.” It provides her with access to millions of data records so she can predict what might happen in any given situation. From our perspective within MatrixCare, that is one of our primary goals, and the same can probably be said for every skilled nursing facility.
It’s clear that there is real power in data. What is the chief value of being able to easily share that data with external partners?
Weatherbie: I think of it like a reference book. There’s an amazing amount of information in one reference book, yet data from multiple sources gives us access to an entire library. The more sources you have, the bigger that library becomes, and it allows better analysis of problems from a number of different perspectives.
There was a survey earlier this year that found that nearly 100% of referring hospitals are conducting business digitally, and they expect their partners to be able to do the same. From a SNF perspective, that ability is key to effectively participating in this ecosystem and standing out among competitors.
Where is the skilled nursing industry today in terms of electronic data sharing and interoperability, sophistication and adoption. Going along with that, what opportunities exist on this front?
Weatherbie: The majority of referral communication today is done via fax, phone and email. This is inefficient because it causes delays from both a clinical and operations perspective. Being able to crack the longitudinal patient record challenge is really important to communicate effectively with referral sources, enable smooth care transitions and provide high-quality patient care.
At the same time, being able to apply effective and accurate data trust and consent rules is also key. If you lose the trust of the patient and you lose the trust of the entire system, it becomes an uphill battle to be effective. As we start to bring all that information together, it will provide better insights from a data and analytics perspective. It will allow us to improve operational efficiency and, ultimately, resident outcomes.
How can SNFs go about seizing the opportunities you just outlined, in terms of both interoperability and data analytics?
Weatherbie: Collect as much data as possible. Even if you don’t think it’s important, collect it and make it accessible, because it probably is. Simple items from how long or how often someone uses an application, to how much time they spend on an application screen helps you understand how your users are working. Also, engaging with partners, understanding their capabilities and working with them to advance different workflows is critical.
I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for us to partner with providers as we develop different workflows. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.
Going back to the data privacy aspect, we can’t lose focus on data privacy rights and the need for data solutions to be patient-centric. It’s critical to understand the patient perspective as it relates to data, then map it to the outcomes you want to achieve before implementing a solution. Understanding partner collaboration, data privacy and solution outcomes are key to success with data analytics.
Entering this year, no one obviously knew fully what to expect. What to you has been the biggest surprise this year in skilled nursing, and what impact do you think that surprise will have on the industry for the remainder of the year?
Weatherbie: 2021 has provided a lot of surprises that we hoped would have passed us by now. We’ve had a number of discussions with many of our customers. For me, the issue that really bubbled to the top was labor challenges. With the job uncertainty and challenges brought by the global pandemic, I am surprised at the amount of turnover that providers are still experiencing.
I think the outcome of this will be that it drives changes in compensation and benefits for team members. It also drives home the need for improved technology solutions that improve user experience, as that will make it a lot easier to retain and attract team members.
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
MatrixCare is the only EHR provider to focus on the entire senior care continuum. To learn more about how MatrixCare can help your organization, visit MatrixCare.com.
The Voices Series is a sponsored content program featuring leading executives discussing trends, topics and more shaping their industry in a question-and-answer format. For more information on Voices, please contact [email protected].