Health nonprofit ARcare expands care in rural communities with Microsoft Fabric

Helping patients get the care they need

ARcare is dedicated to helping people with diverse and sometimes complex needs. The nonprofit partners with care coordinators, who help patients follow care plans, schedule and attend follow-up visits, and make progress on their health goals. With ARcare’s old system, these care coordinators received day-old data that did not reflect walk-in visits. Now Fabric automatically sends information every two hours. 

“This benefits patients because they're getting follow-up checks from people who care,” Osborne says. Up-to-date data also improves the rate of patients sticking to care plans, which is a mandate for federally funded healthcare organizations like ARcare. Since adopting Fabric, ARcare has recorded a 10-fold improvement in patients participating in care plans. 

Fabric also enables a two-way flow of information between ARcare and care coordinators. They merge electronic health record information with claims data to get a more holistic picture of patients’ conditions and needs. “This data platform gives our providers more insight and the ability to treat that patient based on more complete data that we didn’t have before,” says Dustin Morris, Director of EHR Services at ARcare. This nuance is particularly important for people with overlapping conditions and for those who have not established consistent care with a single medical provider. 

More information at the ready means providers focus less on collecting medical history and more on addressing patients’ pressing concerns. “We invest that time in the people right in front of us—our patients,” Osborne says.

Simplifying compliance, reporting, and security

Operating as a federally qualified health center enables ARcare to offer care at discounted rates, but it comes with additional compliance requirements. Some of these are tied to funding. “If we don’t give the data to the federal programs, we may not get paid,” Morris says. That would lead to a reduction in services at a time when ARcare is working to expand in underserved rural areas.

By replacing their previous data storage system with Fabric, ARcare can now collect, store, and report data with confidence. “Having one source of truth means the data is consistent and accurate every time,” Morris says.

Fabric and the Microsoft stack ARcare uses empower the nonprofit to maintain security and protect privacy. “Especially because we deal with healthcare data, I have peace of mind knowing we use Microsoft products,” Osborne says. 

For example, role-based permissions limit who can see patient-related information. They can also spin up new workspaces with fine-tuned permissions in Fabric, providing staff the freedom to analyze data for a particular project, such as year-end planning. “Everyone gets only the data they need. That’s a huge security benefit,” Osborne says.

In addition to Fabric’s built-in protections, ARcare uses Microsoft Defender and its XDR Solution. The AI-powered features monitor, identify, and prevent cybersecurity incidents across the organization. Always-on security helps the team focus on what really matters: patient health.  

“You need the trust of not only your internal team members but also the patients,” Osborne says. “Fabric ties into our security stance and our other Microsoft products so we know patients’ data is being handled with care and the utmost respect.” 

Growing to serve more patients

ARcare has doubled in size in the last four years “with no end in sight,” Morris says. At the same time, ARcare’s commitment to serving all patients regardless of their ability to pay leads to uncertain cash flow. The nonprofit is working to maximize efficiency to not only maintain existing services but to grow. “Fabric is going to help us save tremendous amounts of time and resources,” he adds. “It fits into our strategy of growth, increased services, and increased care.”

Staff used to spend six to eight hours a day on time-consuming tasks, such as sending information to care coordinators and reconciling inconsistent data. “We used to have basically a full FTE dedicated to just some of these manual processes. We now have those people dedicated to new projects,” Morris says. 

For example, they are turning data into visualizations that help teams understand and address challenges. Fabric can automatically feed data to Power BI, which the team uses to visualize analytics of visits, understand trends over time, and predict upcoming changes. Easily slicing the data enables them to quickly create reports on specific offices, regions, or ARcare as a whole. “It gives our leadership insight into how the clinics and providers are performing. It gives them instant feedback,” Morris says.

With easily accessible data, ARcare is better able to anticipate and respond to changing needs. Insights lead to more informed decisions, such as where to open a new office.

Fabric’s infrastructure also accommodates ARcare’s growth. The tiered usage structure will enable the nonprofit to shift up as its storage requirements increase but not overpay in the meantime. 

The integrated analytics and data platform also lays the foundation for leveraging cutting-edge technology. “We’re just starting to scratch the surface on generative AI, and Fabric will help us dive in,” Osborne says. 

ARcare anticipates integrating more AI solutions in the next year, such as chatbots and tools that enable staff with all levels of technical know-how to leverage data. Morris says, “The more advanced we go with technology, the more we can support our growth.”

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