Shantel Rodriguez, RN, chief nursing officer at MB Healthcare
Photo: MB Healthcare
MB Healthcare is a provider of short- and long-term skilled nursing services across multiple states. Staff at the organization have seen firsthand how digital transformation can revolutionize senior care delivery in recent years.
"I remember when everything was on paper – care plans, orders, progress notes, eMAR," recalled Shantel Rodriguez, RN, chief nursing officer at MB Health. "And I witnessed firsthand the transition to digital systems. Today, as CNO, I see how digital transformation and technology have transformed the way we deliver care.
"My entire corporate clinical team now has access to everything with a single click, making it far more convenient to guide our staff in critical decision-making," she added. "This access to real-time, accurate information in the long-term care setting not only streamlines workflows but also reduces the documentation burden, allowing caregivers to focus more on resident interaction."
Access, efficiency and consistency
The driving force behind MB Healthcare's digital transformation came down to the need for real-time access, efficiency and consistency across all of the facilities. In long-term care, things can change by the minute. Residents are complex – they're not like the typical retired nursing home residents in the past.
"Today, we care for patients with chest tubes, cardiac drips, advanced IV therapies and much more – clinical decisions happen constantly," Rodriguez explained. "Having the right information at the right time can completely change outcomes.
"While hospitals and health systems have been digital for a longer period of time, our world operates at a different rhythm and faced unique challenges during the digital transformation," she added. "The challenges included lower IT budgets, diverse levels of digital literacy among staff, and systems that were not originally built for long-term care."
But that forced MB Healthcare to innovate creatively and implement practical, workflow-driven systems.
"In many ways, hospitals can learn from that, especially our focus on simplicity, usability and staff engagement," said Rodriguez. "Technology only transforms care when it fits the reality of bedside workflows.
"So yes, the driving forces behind transformation are similar: efficiency, quality, safety and compliance," she said. "But our journey has been about resilience and adaptation. The lessons learned in long-term care about bridging technology with human care are absolutely transferable to any healthcare setting."
Major technology initiatives
MB Healthcare's digital transformation was not about adopting technology for the sake of modernization – it was about solving long-standing challenges in how care was delivered, documented and communicated across facilities.
The goal was to connect every layer of the organization – clinical, operational and leadership – through data-driven systems that support the bedside.
"One of our major initiatives was the full optimization of our electronic health record platform, PointClickCare," Rodriguez noted. "We standardized documentation across all facilities. And we integrated vital tools such as e-INTERACT, Infection Control Module, PointClickCare Connect, Practitioner Engagement, Guardoc AI and AIOMED to improve decision support, antibiotic stewardship tracking and wound monitoring.
"This not only enhanced accuracy and compliance but also allowed us to monitor key metrics like rehospitalization rates, infection trends and wound prevalence in real time," she added.
Another critical component has been staff education and change management.
"Technology is only as effective as the people using it, so we invested in continuous staff training and created digital onboarding tools and competency tracking for new hires," said Rodriguez. "This helped establish consistency and accountability across all our clinical programs.
"In short, our transformation has been about integration and insight, connecting systems, standardizing workflows and turning data into action," she explained. "We moved from reactive paper-based management to proactive technology-supported leadership that drives measurable outcomes for residents and staff alike."
Transforming care delivery and outcomes
Rodriguez says digital transformation has completely reshaped the way MB Healthcare delivers care.
"Everything is faster, more transparent and more connected," she said. "Before, so much time was spent tracking down charts, clarifying orders or following up on information. Just imagine writing every single care plan by hand for every resident or trying to make sense of a provider's handwriting on a progress note.
"It took an enormous amount of time and pulled attention away from the resident," she added. "I know today we've all normalized electronic health records, but honestly, we're blessed to be living in this technology era."
Now, with real-time access, Rodriguez's corporate clinical team can see what's happening in every facility with just a click. It's made it far easier to guide staff in critical decision-making and ensure care plans are being followed consistently across all locations.
"The impact has been significant," she explained. "We've reduced rehospitalizations, improved clinical communication and strengthened accountability. For example, our nursing teams can identify early changes in a resident's condition and intervene before it becomes an emergency. That's a direct result of having accurate, up-to-date data at their fingertips.
"It's also changed the culture," she added. "Documentation feels less like a burden and more like a tool that empowers staff. Instead of being tied to paperwork, caregivers can spend more time with residents, which is what truly matters in long-term care. So, it's not just about technology, it's about bringing the human side of care back to the forefront."
Improving vendor relations
When MB Healthcare first introduced PointClickCare into the organization, it was a complete cultural shift. At that time, many team members were used to paper processes and manual documentation. IT staff had to focus heavily on education, patience and consistent follow-up to make sure everyone felt comfortable transitioning to a digital platform.
"It took a lot of collaboration across departments," said Rodriguez. "We started with the basics: data accuracy, standardizing documentation, and helping staff understand how the system could make their work easier, not harder. Once they saw how quickly they could access resident information, update care plans or communicate with other departments, adoption followed naturally.
When eMAR and eTAR were still on paper, she said, "we had to assign extra nursing staff at night just to complete what we called the 'recap,' a tedious review of hundreds and hundreds of printed physician orders that would come from the pharmacy."
Nurses would spend days at the end of every month making sure those orders were transcribed correctly. Digital transformation completely took that burden away.
"Today, the platform is fully integrated into our daily operations," said Rodriguez. "Looking back, implementing this system was one of the best decisions we ever made. It didn't just change how we document – it changed how we think, collaborate and deliver care.
"It connected every part of our organization," she said, "and created a level of accountability and transparency that simply wasn't possible before."
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