“I wouldn’t be an admissions director if it weren’t for Dazos,” says Ryan Carroll, director of Admissions for Braintree, Mass., Rockland Recovery Treatment Centers, a 12-step-based outpatient facility for substance use disorder. Since joining Rockland Recovery, Carroll has seen their annual client rolls grow tenfold, including a list of over 1,000 alumni. Beginning as one facility in 2020, Rockland Recovery now runs four mental health outpatient centers and nearly two dozen addiction and substance abuse programs. 

Challenges

Organizations like Rockland Recovery spend money to generate marketing leads in a variety of ways: Google Ads, a staffer’s salary, and marketing agencies. When Rockland Recovery opened its doors in 2020, Carroll relied on paper, pen, and spreadsheets to track admissions, treatment, and discharge. That gave way to a mix of software and manual notetaking. But he still found it difficult to track leads and convert most of them to clients. 

At the outset of his career with Rockland Recovery, Carroll had more questions than answers about the state of admissions. He was unclear about referral sources for potential new clients. There was no system measuring the value of referral sources. The center also lacked metrics for what the agency spent per admission and the return on its marketing dollars. With the right data, the clinic would know which marketing channels were effective and how much to spend on business development.

Solution

While the clinic had tried a CRM to organize itself, the software fell short because it was not tailored to the needs of a behavioral health agency. In fact, no CRM catered specifically for behavioral health. In 2022, Carrol and Rockland Recovery CEO Eddie McGrath learned about the Dazos CRM, built for behavioral health with dashboards, templates, and reports that mirror the way an agency works. 

Carroll uses the platform to keep a digital record--and line of communication--open with nearly every one of the treatment center’s current and former clients. Along with Carroll, approximately 25 of Rockland Recovery’s staff tap into the system each day to keep tabs on admissions, business development and alumni. The CRM software fits neatly into the way Rockland Recovery finds, helps, and connects with clients. 

Here’s how it typically works: Clients come to Rockland Recovery for treatment. Carroll’s team taps its CRM to screen the potential clients for the level of care they need, coordinate with clinicians, and check their insurance (if available). Once approved, the CRM sends a client’s file to Rockland Recovery’s EMR software, Kipu, and the clinical team provides treatment lasting weeks, months or longer. 

Sometimes, Rockland Recovery may refer new clients to a detox program; if so, Carroll and his team then track the referral, expecting the client to finish the program and return to Rockland Recovery for more treatment. Once clients complete treatment at Rockland Recovery, their file goes to the center’s billing software (i.e., CollaborateMD). After that, the EMR transmits the client’s data to the CRM where Carroll adds it to a list of alumni he tracks. With a digital list, Carroll and his team continually check in on former clients to make sure they are still in recovery or help them if they are not. Carroll says his professional growth, in part, stems from having the tools to measure the return on investment in marketing and, ultimately, the cost of admission. 

“To grow the clinic, we needed an easy dashboard to track inbound and outbound referrals,” says Carroll, who admits to not being the most sophisticated computer user on staff. “I’ve been promoted into this role because I can show:  the status of people we’ve referred; conversion rates; our source of admissions; the number of inquiries qualified with insurance; the number who are viable to admit. [It is the ] first thing I look at every morning and share with Eddie [McGrath] our CEO.”

Carroll says admissions is a 24/7 job, so he’s often using the CRM on his phone to track metrics about marketing and clients. If he needs to move a client from Dazos to Kipu as part of intake, he can do that through the Dazos’ mobile app. 

Results

“The Dazos CRM helped us build a call center and expand from one substance use disorder facility to three mental health clinics, two more substance use disorder facilities, and a detox center,” adds Carroll. 

Making data-backed decisions for new construction and admissions goals 

• According to Carroll, having access to data on the metrics for admissions and marketing has given Rockland Recovery confidence to spend on a variety of strategies and tactics. The software’s dashboard counts (and reports on) how many clients the admissions and business development team have historically brought in for treatment. This data has helped Rockland Recovery estimate demand, decide to open a new mental health facility, and set admission goals.

Real-time tracking of clients and revenue mix

• The dashboard also offers Carroll a real-time list of everyone scheduled to come into Rockland Recovery’s facilities each day for treatment as well as the revenue mix. With this, Carroll monitors the metrics for the bottom of his marketing funnel. The dashboard also tracks the new accounts clinic representatives create and whether the client meeting is virtual, in-house, or out-of-house. 

Evaluating referral sources, marketing partners, and cost per admission

• To measure the effectiveness of its referral partners and admissions representatives, Carroll tabulates how much time a rep spends with a referral source and determines the ratio of time to referral. By looking at each agent’s KPIs, he can also see how many leads convert to VOBs and, ultimately, admissions. Other measures he monitors with the Dazos CRM are the number of PHP versus IOP clients as well as the number who are alumni. 
• Through integration with CallTrackingMetrics, the CRM links inbound and outbound phone calls to track the marketing source, such as a referral organization. This, in part, measures the marketing agencies he works with, gauging performance of Google Ads and keywords. 
• Rockland’s cost per admission is the most important measure to track. The CRM software helps Carroll analyze trends based on seasonality or spot a drop off, perhaps, caused by something affecting the relationship with a referral partner.

“If one of my marketing agencies says it’s not a good time of year for admissions for whatever reason,” adds Carroll. “I run a report and see what’s happening, maybe last year at this time, with ‘admits’ and ‘outbounds,’ and take a look at how we’re managing or optimizing referral relationships.”

Meeting regulatory obligations

• Dazos CRM also plays a role in reporting that Rockland Recovery is following licensing and contractual obligations. When agencies like the Massachusetts Bureau of Substance Addiction Services require an admissions denial log, Carroll can run a report in 15 minutes that might otherwise take 10 hours to assemble. 

Carroll’s journey with Rockland Recovery began as a client, moved to running treatment groups as a case manager, and led to being named director of admissions. Carroll says his resume and Rockland Recovery’s growth are linked. Both mirror the move from an earnest but rudimentary approach helping dozens of people to a sophisticated one aiding thousands.