Nikki Schilling, Licensed Nursing Home Administrator and Executive Vice President of Operations & Strategic Development at Everest Management Solutions, shares how Careflow transformed a chaotic, multi-system admissions process into a streamlined, data-driven operation and the real-world results that followed.
About Everest Management Solutions
Everest Management Solutions (EMS) is a boots-on-the-ground management and consulting company that partners with skilled nursing and post-acute care facilities. They support operations, clinical systems, day-to-day management, and critically the admission strategy and census growth that keeps facilities financially healthy.
EMS works across multiple markets, stepping in to consult or fully manage facilities that range from stable operations to distressed or receivership situations.
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The Challenge: A Broken Process No One Could See
When Nikki and the Everest team step into a new facility, the first thing they need to understand is what’s happening with referrals and admissions. But before Careflow, that was nearly impossible. Referrals were pouring in from everywhere.
CarePort (AllScripts / WellSky), Repisodic, Aiden, Ensocare, email inboxes, and fax machines tucked away in closets where pages sometimes sat undiscovered for days. Each system had its own login, its own workflow, and its own way of doing things. Admission teams weren’t just managing referrals. They were juggling systems.
"It was very fragmented, and a lot for the admissions teams to keep up with, especially because their sole job isn't to sit in front of a computer all day." - Nikki Schilling
Processing each referral required reviewing clinical documentation, verifying financial eligibility, running registry checks, and coordinating across multiple departments. Teams often printed referral packets and physically tracked down nurses in hallways to review them.
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Important decisions moved slowly between teams, and visibility into referral activity was extremely limited. Referral response times stretching to thirty minutes or more became common. Conversion rates hovered around twenty percent. Leadership had little visibility into where referrals were being lost or how the process could improve.
Nikki, whose job depends on understanding referral performance across facilities, the lack of visibility created constant uncertainty.
"For me, it was the "not knowing". I couldn't wrap my arms around it to get an idea of what we needed to do, what we were doing well, and what opportunities we had to improve." - Nikki Schilling
The Solution: Finding Careflow, and Knowing it Had to be Everywhere
Nikki’s introduction to Careflow happened organically. A central intake company she partnered with was already using the platform, which allowed her to work within the system before making any large operational changes. That hands-on experience made a strong impression.
Having previously led a full admissions process overhaul at another organization using a different CRM, Nikki had seen how difficult it could be for traditional systems to adapt to post-acute workflows. Careflow stood out because it was designed specifically for referral and admissions coordination.
"A lot of CRMs are trying to figure out our world and it typically doesn't work. The fact that Careflow understands our business really helps streamline it and makes a huge difference." - Nikki Schilling
Careflow brought referral intake, collaboration, and reporting together into one platform. Instead of switching between multiple systems, teams could log in once and manage the entire admissions workflow from a single place.
For Nikki, the question quickly shifted from whether to implement Careflow to how quickly it could be deployed across facilities.
"I knew when I went into new accounts that I had to have it. It was really like, how do I get this into every account that we work with?" - Nikki Schilling
Operational Transformation: How Everest Uses Careflow Everyday
"Careflow is the first system Everest and our clients open each morning. " - Nikki Schilling
With referrals centralized in one platform, admissions teams can review new opportunities, coordinate internally, and respond to hospitals more quickly. Each component of the admissions workflow is supported within the system.
Unified Referral Intake
Referrals from multiple sources are consolidated into one platform. Admissions teams no longer switch between referral portals, emails, and fax systems to monitor incoming opportunities.
AI-Powered Clinical Review
Many referrals arrive with dozens of attachments and hundreds of pages of documentation. Careflow highlights key clinical insights and links directly to where that information appears in the original documents, helping teams review referrals more efficiently.
Real-Time Collaboration
Admissions teams can tag nurses, financial staff, or administrators directly within the platform. Notifications reach team members by text and email, making coordination faster without requiring everyone to be at a desk.
Custom Task Management
Facilities use Careflow tasks to manage admissions follow-ups, equipment preparation, and operational coordination related to incoming referrals. Future-dated tasks ensure important follow-ups are not missed.
Reporting and Referral Analytics
Careflow reporting provides visibility into referral patterns, conversion rates, lost business insights, and payer trends. Everest uses the data frequently throughout each week (and sometimes daily) to help guide the facility admission teams, along with incorporating it into every business development meeting - whether that is weekly, biweekly or monthly, all of the templates require a review of the data, to help celebrate the wins and drive strategy.
The Results: The Numbers Tell the Story
Nikki implemented Careflow in one key region on October 1. By January 1 — just three months later — the operational impact was clear. 60 min+ to 10 - 15 minutes
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Firstly, referral response time decreased from 60+ minutes to, on average, 10-15 minutes. Secondly, Everest Management Solutions' clients doubled their referral conversion rate (taking their conversion rate from 20% to 41% means nearly 50% of all referrals are admitted. Doubling referral conversion means that for every 100 referrals, Everest facilities now admit 21 additional patients compared to before. Across multiple facilities, those additional admissions contribute directly to stronger census performance and operational stability.
"But it's not even just about the response time. It's about giving the proper response without sacrificing efficiency. The hospitals want instant acceptance. Careflow has allowed the teams to clinically and financially approve referrals way faster. It saves so much time with the many steps that need to be taken with referral management " - Nikki Schilling
Click here to discover how your team can achieve results like this
Explore how Careflow helps admissions teams move faster, improve conversion, and grow census.
Operational Lessons
For Everest Management Solutions, the implementation of Careflow revealed several operational insights that apply broadly across post-acute admissions teams. Fragmented referral systems create hidden operational inefficiencies that limit visibility and slow response times. Centralizing referrals into a single platform allows teams to coordinate more efficiently and make decisions faster.
Improved reporting and analytics enable leadership to better understand referral pipelines and identify opportunities to improve conversion performance. Collaboration between clinical, operational, and financial teams earlier in the referral process helps ensure admissions decisions are both clinically appropriate and financially viable.
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Strategic Takeaway: Looking Ahead
For Everest Management Solutions, Careflow has become foundational to how new facilities are stabilized and referral processes are improved. As EMS continues expanding into additional markets, the ability to quickly implement a centralized referral workflow remains critical to improving admissions performance.
Click here to learn how your team can convert more referrals into admits
See how Careflow helps teams prioritize faster and act on the right referrals.
