Drawn to human movement, Jeremy Dennis began his career path pursuing a Bachelor’s of Physical and Health Education (Honors) at Queen’s University, anticipating the clinical route of possibly becoming a physiotherapist.
Jeremy worked for five years at an insurance company, which introduced him to the business side of health and allowed him to work in a hospital setting.
After working in hospital HR for about half a decade, Jeremy completed a Master’s in Health Administration at the University of Toronto. His goal was to attain a role where he could help hospitals and health systems across North America to drive operational efficiencies and apply the knowledge he gained during his master’s degree. Then last spring, he landed here at Multiview as a Business Development Executive (BDE).
We spoke with Jeremy about Multiview and the future of healthcare.
Q: Do you see any specific drivers of health or ways that Multiview could assist as a data warehouse to drive some of those outcomes towards more efficient care models?
I think a significant roadblock in healthcare, and I experienced this in my role at a hospital, was from a strategic planning perspective, IT systems did not have the ability to integrate with one another and it was next to impossible to identify strategic initiatives since we did not have a single source of truth to reference. In the department where I was working, which was occupational health, we were leveraging a system that provided many key insights for my specific role and the department where I worked. However, my job required me to connect with other department leaders. It became frustrating because I worked with data from multiple different systems that didn’t speak to one another.
I’d then spend weeks gathering data. All that data landed into Excel and would be manipulated and validated, and those key insights were drawn, and I wasn’t using it. That’s where Multiview comes into play. Multiview provides better business intelligence and insight and visibility into a hospital and its clinical operations.
Q: Let’s shift perspectives and talk about big data and access to data and analytics provided by the consumers with wearable technology and the future of that being integrated into healthcare and covered by insurance policies.
My mom is currently unwell. She had an aortic valve replacement. She was discharged from the ICU. So, she’s working with an extensive care team, cardiologist, exercise physiologist, and many different care providers.
My dad recently bought her an Apple Watch. She is excited because this watch has technology built into it to do EKG readings. The cardiologist that operated on her signed off on the need to have this device.
They are currently submitting a claim to their group benefits provider to see if it’ll be covered by insurance as a medically necessary device. It will be interesting to see whether or not the insurance company approves that device. I suspect it likely won’t, but I would argue that in the future it will.
I know that Apple and Amazon, and other wearable device providers have entered into partnerships with electronic health record provider. For example, Amazon and Cerner just entered into a partnership.
Amazon developed a wearable device where the patient’s data now feeds directly into the Cerner EHR. So, I think that’s the future, and it’s happening at such a rapid pace that it’s hard to keep up with all the changes.
Q: Without a data warehouse or a way to aggregate, move from one source or two sources or even three or four to fewer opportunities for that data to come in. With the consumer demanding access to that information, as you mentioned with your example, how can the health system move forward without the ability to view that in real-time and with minimal effort?
That’s precisely it. Our health systems were designed with so many different interest groups and key stakeholders with a lot of power, decision-making, and procurement. There are so many competing priorities by the stakeholders. It’s quite difficult for the patient to navigate and for change to happen at a larger scale.
Having a data warehouse and a single source of truth makes it’s a speedy and easy fix. At Multiview, we’re able to integrate an interface and pull out existing data to enable that single source of truth. Instead of breaking down those silos.
Q: What brought you to Multiview, and what experiences have you seen over the first six months?
I was chasing company culture versus a job title. What drew me to Multiview is that although it’s a health, technology, accounting software, it is a people-first company. I wanted to work for a company where I could have flexibility in scheduling. I also wanted to work for a company that would empower me to make an impactful change within an industry I am passionate about. At Multiview, I can have a tremendous impact on hospitals.
Q: Suppose Multiview is speaking to a prospect and trying to differentiate ourselves from our competition as people obsessed. How is that shown here over the first couple of months since you’ve been onboarded?
I started in this role, on April 6, right at the cusp of when COVID-19 was going to hit. Within four weeks, it was evident to me how the entire C-suite exec team cares about people. It’s so apparent with the amount of effort and communication and transparency. Multiview provides its employees with trust. They believe that we are going to make the right decisions. I think that’s the differentiator between Multiview’s culture and that of our competitors.
Q: We have a client obsessed mentality by merely bringing in the right employees to provide value, even after the sale or implementation. When we’re speaking to those prospects and looking for ways to differentiate ourselves, what are some things you would ask them to consider when looking to leverage Multiview’s expertise?
I would say that we can identify trends in the healthcare market because Multiview has such an agile healthcare team, and we can develop our technology to meet the rapid change in the market. We approached prospecting with a consultative mindset. This is what we see in the market, and this is what our technology can do for you.
Q: Tell us a bit more about those conversations.
I highlight the fact that Multiview is HIPAA compliant, and that is a key attribute our healthcare partners are looking for in their ERP technology. We have the ability to adapt and meet the unique needs and solve major pain points within niche models of care. For instance, the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) is a pretty unique care model, primarily in the United States, providing comprehensive medical and social services to certain frail, community-dwelling elderly individuals, most of whom are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid benefits.
We recently entered into a partnership with a PACE organization. Our technology fits nicely into how this organization delivers care. We’re able to meet those needs and ultimately help them drive those efficiencies and identify where their resources are flowing to provide higher quality patient care.
In healthcare reform, the “Quadruple Aim” is a common term with a focus on patient experience, lower costs, care team well-being and improved health of the population. For me, it’s the “why”. Multiview is a change agent and our healthcare focused ERP has shown that we’re able to help healthcare organizations across North America achieve the Quadruple Aim –and that’s an awesome feeling to walk away from!
Q: For PACE organizations out there that need a better aligned tool, is there any insight into the ability to aggregate the data or connect the clinical side of the hospital’s financial side?
When I reflect on my MHA, and the conversations I continually have with health system leaders, I think there’s a significant shift in priorities and in the way we evaluate health system performance. My hope is that we’ll see a significant paradigm shift in how we spend and allocate money. For example, it’s widely known that the major drivers of health (in other words, where health is created) comes from human behavior, your postal code, genetics, and of course, other drivers such as access to care. However, accessing care is a marginal driver and in my opinion health system leaders do not have visibility into where their resources are flowing across their organizations since a lot of them do not have a single source of truth. At the end of the day, healthcare is a business, so how do we tie in the financial data to tell captivating stories about resource allocation. That’s where Multiview’s ViewSource360 is so unique and special as it can integrate clinical and financial data to tell a compelling story so that executives and health system planners can allocate money and capital where it truly needs to be spent.
If you’re interested in learning more about Multiview’s healthcare ERP, contact us today for a free software demo!
Jeremy Dennis is a Business Development Executive on the Healthcare Team at Multiview, a highly scalable enterprise resource planning (ERP) software suite. Jeremy has a broad base of industry knowledge based on his close to 10 years working across numerous health care systems. He partners with hospitals and health systems across North America to leverage clinical data from all venues of care within the ERP to provide a real-time, accurate view of an organizations health and needs. His focus is on aligning business and management principles with health services to apply innovative solutions to the issues and constrains of the healthcare environment.
Jeremy holds a Master of Health Administration (MHA) from the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation (IHPME) from the University of Toronto.