Digital Health Done Right: PointClickCare

Digital Health Done Right is a Redox Blog Series that shines a light on a member of our interoperable network. We believe in our partners’ missions and want to share their stories and outcomes with you.

Many stories have been written about the “Silver Tsunami,” the seismic demographic shift caused by the baby boomer generation officially staking their claim as “Senior Citizens.”

Much of the discussion centers on technology. For the baby boomers, how they age, what they expect — let’s be honest, what they demand — promises to be significantly different from previous generations.

At the forefront of this revolution is a company from Mississauga, Ontario called PointClickCare. PointClickCare is the leading electronic health record (EHR) provider for long-term post-acute (LTPAC) and Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF).

I had the opportunity to sit down with BJ Boyle, the Vice President and GM, Post-Acute Insights at PointClickCare, to learn more about the organization and get a glimpse into the future of aging, and what they are doing to stay ahead of this rapidly evolving industry.

George: Let’s start with the basics. What is PointClickCare and how did the company get started?

BJ: PointClickCare creates products and solutions that help enable caregivers of the elderly population.

The company was founded by two brothers, Mike and Dave Wessinger, whose mother worked at a post-acute care facility. Through this exposure, they became passionate about creating products that would help their mother and the patients she served.

PointClickCare was the first cloud-based, software-as-a-service (SaaS) electronic health record solution offered to LTPAC and SNF organizations. Thanks to our subscription model and first-of-its-kind, 30-day out clause (still offered today), we were able to eliminate a lot of upfront fees (server costs, etc.) and grow very quickly. Today 61% of all SNFs use PointClickCare. That covers over one million beds!

George: I like that phrase, “caregivers of the elderly population.” It feels like it has more room to grow than, “electronic health record software for LTPAC organizations and SNFs.” Was that intentional?

BJ: Yes. We know PointClickCare needs to be more than just an EHR company. Our goal is to align with the mission of our customers and measure the impact of our offerings accordingly. That means constantly innovating and delivering products and services that solve the right problems. We see ourselves as owning and driving a post-acute episode, whether at home or at an assisted living or SNF.

George: How do you prioritize development? There are so many things you could do. How do you choose what to focus on?

BJ: We’re driven by a concept called, “value first.” We hold ourselves accountable to delivering products and services that deliver value and solve the right problems. That means looking at things from our customer’s point of view. What are their key problems? How do we solve them? How do we bring real value?

One way we make this more tangible is by understanding the main metrics our customers are judged by and tying our metrics directly to them. We judge our success by the success of our customers.

A good example in our space is the pressure of narrowing networks and referral partners. With value-based payments, bundles, and risk sharing with advantage plans, skilled nursing providers are under pressure from referral partners. They need a way to prove they are reducing readmissions.

In this scenario, our marching orders are clear. We need to help our partners ensure they are reducing readmissions to keep those relationships with referral partners strong.

George: What a beautiful segue. We recently partnered to address that very problem. Can you share what went into that decision?

BJ: A challenge to being a preferred referral partner is data sharing. Our goal is to make that sharing seamless.

Today, when a discharge decision is made to send someone from a hospital into a SNF, oftentimes that discharge request is accompanied by a fax or a printed transfer form and the staff then needs to manually enter information, such as medications. If this form doesn’t show up in time, the patient will not have proper care instructions or a list of medications he or she must take. This might result in a readmission or additional cost of care. With Redox, we want to have that medication list show up ahead of time, so a nurse is prepared to discharge the patient quickly and with the right information for the patient.

For our customers to be in that preferred referral position, interoperability is key. That’s why we enjoyed working with Redox. Your solution addressed a problem that is important to our customers. Together, when we make things simpler, we can adhere to our mission of value first.

George: We work with a lot of digital health vendors. Many who are clamoring to offer solutions to LTPAC and SNFs using PointClickCare. How do you look at innovation from third parties?

BJ: If you’re a new startup that is working on an interesting new solution for PointClickCare customers, we want to enable that. We definitely see the value in a competitive marketplace where outsiders can thrive and introduce innovation into the space.

We recently launched a third-party developer program that allows developers to apply, gain access to a sandbox and APIs, get developer support, and quickly innovate.

George: PointClickCare always shows up in “top places to work” lists. What makes it such a cool place to work?

BJ: We’re centered around the mission that healthcare is important and it is personal. Everyone has a parent or loved one who is aging. We will all eventually fall under that umbrella. We combine that mission, which really is meaningful, with a work hard, play hard mentality that makes it fun to come to work every day.

Outside of PointClickCare, the entire LTPAC industry is a family in a lot of ways. People may change companies, but they usually stay in the space. In November, we will be hosting our 8th annual SUMMIT. This event brings together 2,000 people including PointClickCare customers, industry leaders, policy influencers, and sponsoring partners. During the event, attendees learn about the latest technology innovations from PointClickCare and collaborate on the most pressing challenges and opportunities shaping the long-term care industry today.

I think another reason why we are a top company is our leadership. There’s no ivory tower here. Everyone is approachable, which makes it easy to be comfortable and to keep growing together. Also, our office/ cafeteria is pretty cool. No one goes out to lunch and we all try to take the time to eat together, away from our desks. We find that this approach provides more opportunities to connect with one another and know that we are all in this together.

George: Sounds like you have a great team and a great mission. What is PointClickCare focused on moving forward?

BJ: I tend to break our focus into three tiers:

Aspire to continue to be the largest provider of products and solutions that help enable caregivers of the elderly population. We want to own the post-acute care continuum and maintain our position as the dominant player in SNF. With more than 5,000 senior living communities (and growing), a home health platform, and a telehealth solution, we want to be the post-acute care cloud and system of record.
Empower post-acute care customers to be more connected and share more insights into the broader healthcare continuum. We’re in a unique position to empower care coordination and optimization. No one has more data about the post-acute population than PointClickCare. Now the focus is on the valuable solutions we can layer on top. We want to empower patients and make it easy to share not just the continuity of care documents, but also insights about the data.
The network effect. How do we empower services? Can we share data and empower engineers/service providers to create a community around PointClickCare? Our developer program is certainly a step in the right direction. We’re looking to continue to do more in this space.

George: BJ, this has been great. Is there anything else our readers should know?

BJ: PointClickCare does more than just bill and make it easy to attest to regulations. We’re committed to driving interoperability and data exchange that drives results. We’re focused on delivering value and reducing the cost of care by opening up communication coordination to truly make a difference.

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PointClickCare Technologies Inc. is helping over 16,000 long-term and post-acute care (LTPAC) providers meet the challenges of senior care by enabling them to achieve the business results that matter – enriching the lives of their residents and patients, improving financial and operational health, and mitigating risk. To learn more, please visit www.PointClickCare.com.