Habit Health

The Power of Data: Sound information power a regional healthcare provider to nationwide prominence.

The power of good information has helped a small local practice in Otago expand rapidly to become part of a national operator which has gone through two private equity acquisition cycles. A business that started out as RATA South merged with Southern Rehab and then became a part of Wellington’s Habit Health delivering services across all of New Zealand and which in 2018 was acquired by Livingbridge Capital. Most recently, Habit Health was acquired by Five V Capital in August 2024.

Co-founder of RATA South Mark Shirley is Habit Health’s Chief Innovation Officer, and he cites quality data systems and expertise provided by Dunedin’s Flock Consulting as essential to the company’s success story.

Habit Health is New Zealand's largest integrated health provider, offering, physiotherapy rehabilitation, occupational health, EAP services and fitness clubs. An extensive range of specialised health, fitness and personal welfare services along with a comprehensive national footprint, allows Habit Health to optimise the health and well-being of Kiwis at home, in the workplace or at one of more than 100 locations.

From humble beginnings

Shirley wryly smiles that he goes a long way back with Flock Consulting principal Jon Foote. “He was always involved in data and initially I had no idea what he was on about,” he says.

However, when Shirley went into private practice – and perhaps remembering conversations with Foote - he quickly appreciated the power of data and information. “This was at RATA South, where we had patient care information in our practice management system. I realised that could be valuable, particularly as we were looking to grow the business.”

Of course, he knew where to look for help. “We got Flock involved and outlined an overall vision of what we wanted to achieve; at this stage, we had three branches and wanted a similar standard of care and workflow management for consistent delivery to all patients. We also wanted to be able to know this was being delivered without going into the individual Practice Management systems.”

These were early days, but sound data management principles were setting the foundations which would eventually support a healthcare business at scale. “Back then, we were extracting files weekly, and Flock would do visualisations in Microsoft PowerBI,” Shirley comments.

Growing rapidly and reaching scale

When RATA South joined forces with Southern Rehab and became part of a South Island-wide chain – going from 50 people to 350 – the data management principles came along. However, the sophistication of the combined company’s data use was steadily advancing. “We wanted to understand how we were using our workforce, how quickly and how well we were caring for patients, what outcomes we were achieving against various metrics,” Shirley explains.

By 2018, further consolidation occurred as the business was acquired by Habit Health, becoming a national company with over 100 sites across the country, he confirms – and a staff complement now numbering over 850 people.

Basic good data habits and processes extended across the group, providing the necessary information to manage a much larger enterprise. “With data collection structured and reports organised in a specific way, we had systems in place which extended across the growing business so we could visualise key performance indicators. This includes daily updates of key metrics across financial performance, clinical performance, and people performance,” Shirley explains.

Effective data, he stresses, is essential for growing a business sustainably. “What Flock has provided is an ability to keep a close eye right from the ‘helicopter level’, down to the performance of individual regions, therapists or patient outcomes.”

From high-level…to individual specifics

Whether overview or detail, he says the structure of the data warehouse and reporting tools means the right information is always to hand for the person accessing it. “Whether that’s the CEO or CFO, service lead or regional manager: they get the insights they need, when they need it.”

Flexibility is also key to success, as information needs change over time. For example, when Habit Health started providing occupational health for corporate clients, it had the data to demonstrate a sound value proposition of a 40% faster time to recovery. “This service, Streamlined Recovery Pathway, helps workers recover and get back to their jobs faster; it’s good for the patient and for their employer, driving improved health and reduced costs,” says Shirley.

There’s always more to be done on top of solid data foundations, he continues. “At present, Flock is working with us to enhance reporting portals for corporate clients. It helps that most work these days is digital, providing good raw material – and that also means we’re starting to look at regulatory, administrative and other tasks, and using PowerApps and Power Automate for improved and automated workflows.”

Also massively helpful, adds Shirley, is automation of patient surveys. “It’s not just financial performance that matters. We also want to know what results we’re achieving for patients, what value for money are we delivering – that’s a crucial part of the very close eye we keep on how the business is performing.”

Data powered by experts

Expanding a business rapidly is potentially perilous, as scale magnifies problems and creates altogether new ones. Without Flock Consulting and its comprehensive data platform, Shirley says it’s quite simple: “We just wouldn’t be able to grow as successfully or as quickly as we have. But with a complete hierarchical view, we understand exactly what is going on anywhere in the organisation, at  any time.”

He says Flock Consulting takes time to understand the ‘who, what, where, how, and why’ of data requirements, while working to Habit Health’s pace and style. “They work how I want to work, rather than expecting me to work like they do. In short, we couldn’t have done it without Flock, and – by happy coincidence - without Flock growing at the same pace as our own expansion.”

Without Flock, says Shirley, it is quite simple. “We would be poking around in the dark.”

Which is almost never a good thing.