Q&A: Matt Mellott: Brightree's big picture

ATLANTA - Brightree went into Medtrade Spring in April following a busy end to 2018 and start to 2019. The company, which is owned by ResMed, acquired Apacheta in December and announced its latest integration with Quality Biomedical in January. Here's what CEO Matt Mellott had to say about what's next, including its newest product Advanced Analytics, a platform that highlights workflow insights, and tracks KPIs and peer benchmarking.

HME News: Most recently, Brightree integrated with Quality Biomedical to streamline workflows for HME companies managing equipment service and deployment. There have been a host of other integrations over the past few years. How have these integrations changed the shape of the Brightree solution?

Matt Mellott: Brightree is committed to creating the platform of choice for HMEs, and that means connecting to the larger healthcare ecosystem to make it easier to access and share important patient data, while improving their operational efficiencies. Integrations with third parties like Quality Biomedical allow us to provide our customers with additional capabilities seamlessly through Brightree's core solution. Our goal has always been—and continues to be—adding significant value for our customers through technology. We do this by replacing tedious manual tasks with seamless workflows that advance interoperability. We are always looking for new ways to help our customers improve their businesses and deliver high-quality patient care.

HME: Why take the additional step of acquiring a company like Apacheta (vs. just integrating with it)?

Mellott: Apacheta had been a strategic partner of Brightree since 2015. Their solution solves many of the business challenges HMEs face in managing deliveries, particularly eliminating missing, lost or incomplete delivery information.

In a recent survey, Brightree customers shared that a mobile delivery platform for ordering and tracking equipment was their No. 1 feature request, largely influencing our decision to acquire Apacheta. By acquiring this solution, we can: guide further innovation within the platform at an accelerated pace; help drive adoption across our HME customer base; and explore bringing this solution to other care settings and platforms that would benefit from a mobile delivery solution.

HME: In addition to Brightree, ResMed has also acquired other software companies serving other areas of post-acute care. Brightree has a presence in non-HME markets. What is the importance of covering the whole post-acute care space?

Mellott: One of the big challenges in out-of-hospital care is that the various care settings are currently disconnected from one another, making it difficult for people to navigate between those settings when their care needs require them to do so. This creates significant inefficiencies for providers and less-than-ideal outcomes for patients. ResMed is creating a world where patients can transition from one care setting to another at the appropriate time, and have their data follow them to support better care. Providers, especially the increasing number that span multiple care settings, can manage more patients with fewer resources and still adhere to the ever-growing range of regulatory requirements. Add to this the efficiencies that can be gained by connecting HMEs into this ecosystem to support seamless ordering and delivery, and you get a sense of the future that ResMed is building as we speak.

HME: Where does Brightree expect to take its solutions/technology in the future?

Mellott: We plan to continue innovating new ways to help our customers excel in business and patient care, while strengthening our existing industry-leading solutions through new enhancements and strategic integrations. We introduced Advanced Analytics at Medtrade Spring, which has the potential to transform business results for HME providers of all sizes. We're really excited about that, among other developments planned for the year.