02-06-2021, 04:44 AM
Central Logic Saw Record-Breaking Growth, Awareness and Momentum in 2020 as Health Systems Increase Focus on ‘Operating as One’
COVID-19 pandemic awakened the industry to importance of healthcare access and orchestration and visibility of critical care resources
“The extremely challenging circumstances of the past year have helped health system leaders realize how crucial it is to have real-time visibility across their enterprise into available beds, providers, transport and scarce resources such as ventilators so patients receive the critical care they need,” said Angie Franks, CEO of Central Logic. “Even beyond COVID-19, the importance of fully aligning as a single integrated system that seamlessly shares data and resources with a centralized, real-time view of operations for better clinical and financial outcomes is a lesson that will resonate with many health systems for years to come.”
This industry-wide evolution toward “operating as one” is evidenced by Central Logic’s unprecedented growth in 2020. Hundreds more hospitals and health systems requested information about Central Logic’s solution and expertise last year than in any other year in the company’s history. And, a record number of those inquiries resulted in new client relationships (details below).
“Delivering on our clients’ need for access and orchestration across the care continuum remains our core focus,” Franks said. “In 2020, more health systems recognized the importance of this aspect of patient care and have shown they are eager to partner with a proven and established leader in the industry.”
Client Growth and Acquisitions
In 2020, Central Logic saw record client growth, including forging agreements with two of the largest for-profit health systems in the United States. To date, four of the five largest for-profit health systems in the country are Central Logic clients.
Central Logic also made two strategic acquisitions in 2020 that will further support health systems’ ability to operate as one system of care. The first announced acquisition was of Omaha-based Ensocare, which closed in October. Ensocare’s technology, which will be incorporated into Central Logic’s platform, automates the inpatient referral process to post-acute care (PAC). The acquisition expands Central Logic’s solution to include successful transitions beyond hospitals to post-acute care settings—including skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities and long-term acute care centers—by tapping into an active, curated network of more than 50,000 PAC providers nationwide. Placement confirmations are secured on average within 30 minutes. This efficient orchestration and navigation creates bed availability and access for incoming patients, creates more time for clinicians to operate at the top of their license, elevates revenue capture, and reduces system leakage.
With the acquisition, Central Logic expanded its footprint to 800 hospitals and health systems, 150,000 providers, and more than 5 million patients, touching a total of 14% of U.S. hospital patients each year.
Central Logic’s second acquisition, announced in January 2021, was of Acuity Link, a leading provider of transportation communications and logistics management software. Acuity Link’s technology powers Central Logic’s new Intelligent Transport capability, which decreases bed cycle times and expedites bed availability with timely emergent and non-emergent transport to, from and between sites of care. Intelligent Transport transforms and unites health systems’ transportation coordination process from one that is disparate, manual, time-consuming, and susceptible to human error to one that is standardized, automated, intelligent and efficient—substantially reducing the time it takes to get patients access to the care they need and further enabling the health system to operate as one.
This growth was fueled by private equity firm Rubicon Technology Partners’ strategic majority investment in Central Logic, announced in July. Rubicon, based in Boulder, Colo., is focused exclusively on enterprise software companies. The investment continues to accelerate Central Logic’s growth through new product innovation, faster solution delivery and customer support.
Surge Line Supports COVID-19 Response
One of the most significant accomplishments for Central Logic in 2020 was its support in the establishment of the Arizona Surge Line, which ensures all COVID-19 patients across the state receive appropriate placement and care even with the high caseload and surges the state has experienced.
Successfully implemented in less than two weeks, the Arizona Surge Line was created after discussions between the Arizona Department of Health Services and Banner Health, the largest health system in the state and a super user of Central Logic’s technology platform. Months before the state faced its first major surge of cases, Banner and all of the other health systems from throughout the state agreed to participate in a statewide access center powered by Central Logic for load-balancing patients with COVID-19.
The Surge Line provides referring hospitals anywhere in Arizona with one phone number to request the efficient transfer of patients to the appropriate level of care, including transport coordination and real-time patient tracking. Utilizing Central Logic’s Microsoft Azure-based platform and integrating data from dozens of EHRs and other information systems, the solution delivers real-time visibility into available and staffed ICU beds, specialists, ventilators and other resources—guaranteeing faster access to care for patients. In short, the Surge Line has enabled health systems across the entire state to operate as one, uniting more than 130 hospitals so they can efficiently orchestrate and navigate patient transitions across regions—or across the state.
As of late January, the Arizona Surge Line had transferred more than 6,200 patients and prevented hospitals from needing to turn away anyone with COVID-19 by ensuring patient caseloads are evenly distributed across Arizona.
Groundbreaking Leakage Report
With intensive care units bursting at the seams in many parts of the country and providers scrambling to find hospitals to admit their critically ill patients, COVID-19 has placed a national spotlight on healthcare access and orchestration. Faced with first and second surges of cases, some health systems recognized they had few enterprise-wide, standardized processes for how patients navigate into and out of their organizations. And few health systems have processes in place to ensure that patients return to providers affiliated with their network of physicians and facilities—a concept referred to as repatriation—after they leave for outside care.
Months before the pandemic, Central Logic began studying this topic of network “leakage” and commissioned an independent market research firm to survey health system leaders about this pressing topic. The resulting report, “The Patient Keepage & Leakage Report,” was based on responses from a random sample of 138 double-verified senior health system and hospital executives responsible for patient care, hospital administration, finance or operations. Results showed that nearly all (96%) of these healthcare executives said patient leakage is a priority, but only 31% had a plan to keep patients within their health system networks.
As highlighted in the report, patient leakage has taken on greater importance during COVID-19, as hospitals’ and health systems’ operating margins have dropped precipitously. While CARES Act funding has offered some financial relief, these organizations lost hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue in 2020 due in large part to restrictions on elective procedures and patients canceling or deferring care.
The report re-emphasized the importance of improving “systemness” in order to decrease leakage and increase keepage. Through more efficient care access and orchestration and comprehensive visibility across all phases of care, healthcare organizations can regain revenue lost during the historic drop in elective care in 2020 due to COVID-19.
“COVID-19 has forced health system leaders to re-examine how patients navigate into and out of their organization and where they go afterward,” Franks said. “The significant gap in this knowledge will likely lead many of these leaders to prioritize healthcare access and orchestration in 2021.”
Events Go Virtual
Lisa Villarroel, MD, MPH, who serves as the medical director for the Division of Public Health Preparedness at the Arizona Department of Health Services and works closely with Central Logic on the Arizona Surge Line, was one of the featured panelists at Central Logic’s first annual AO[sup]2[/sup] Summit, which was virtual in 2020. The summit—whose name stands for access and orchestration—is a reimagined annual conference focused on offering exclusive insights to healthcare leaders on best practices to orchestrate patients safely and effectively through the patient care continuum. The conference continues the momentum of Central Logic’s previous Patient Flow Summit, which took place for the 10th year running last year.
Along with Dr. Villarroel, the conference included presentations and roundtable discussions with other public and private healthcare experts, including Mike Leavitt, former Secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, former governor of Utah, and founder of Leavitt Partners; former Federal Emergency Management Administration administrator Craig Fugate; Alan Levine, CEO of Ballad Health, an integrated health system with 21 hospitals serving 29 counties in Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky; Wayne Brackin, president and CEO of KIDZ Medical Services Inc., and former COO of Baptist Health South Florida. Also participating in the event were Ann Mond Johnson, CEO of the American Telemedicine Association; Renee DeSilva, CEO at The Health Management Academy; and attorney Alexis Gilroy, who advises on complex transactional and health regulatory issues with an emphasis on virtual health.
The AO[sup]2[/sup] Summit served as the kick-off for an extended series of weekly “AO2uesday” virtual presentations, which took place on several Tuesdays following the conference. The weekly events featured a new thought leader or industry expert for each interactive session.
With this unprecedented year of unique challenges in the rearview mirror, Franks looks with optimism to the year that is just beginning.
“In the face of immense challenges, I am amazed and humbled by the hard work, resiliency and sheer will demonstrated by our health system clients,” Franks said. “They are the true heroes of 2020—and beyond.”
She adds: “We are hopeful that the new year will be one where health systems in their recovery enhance their ability to orchestrate and navigate patient transitions across their facilities and through the continuum of care, including post-acute care. This focus on creating an ‘operating as one’ mindset will not only help health systems recover from 2020 losses, it will foster sustainable and long-term growth in 2021 and well into the future.”
About Central Logic
For health systems and hospitals, healthcare access and orchestration are life-saving endeavors. Central Logic is a pioneer in the space and was founded solely to support this mission. Our flexible, purpose-built access and orchestration solutions ensure efficient patient navigation across health systems and through the continuum of care, and deliver the necessary controls to elevate revenue capture, clinician effectiveness, and patient outcomes. Clients count on Central Logic to deliver superior real-time visibility across their networks while offering operational, clinical and technical best practices to drive strong growth, reduce length of stay and minimize avoidable delays, today and into the future. Based in St. Paul, Minn., Central Logic has a 93% customer retention rate and has been named a “fastest growing private company” by both Inc. 500 and Utah Business Magazine. For more information, visit www.centrallogic.com.