Overview

Matthew Schaefer is a senior operations leader in behavioral health withdeep experience running admissions, utilization review, and revenuecriticalworkflows. He has partnered with Braided across twoorganizations, previously as an Admissions Director, and later at hiscurrent organization, Real Recovery Solutions, as Director of Operations.

In both environments, Salesforce and Kipu sit at the center of dailyoperations. These systems are used continuously by admissions, clinical,utilization review, and leadership teams. Whenintegrations fail or support lags, the operational impact is immediate.

At his current organization, Matthew joined during a period of rapidgrowth, scaling from 30 beds to 105 beds, with additional facilities and adetox program under active development. In this context, operationalreliability and leadership visibility were not optional. They were essential.

The Challenge

Before working with Braided, Matthew’s experience withintegrations was defined by friction, slow support, andunnecessary leadership overhead.

At his prior organization, the initial integration vendortechnically worked, but support was not meetingexpectations. When something broke, Matthew had no directcontact and often waited a full day or longer for a response.For a 24/7 admissions environment, that delay created riskand constant distraction for leadership.

At his current organization, the challenge was even moreacute. They were operating with Kipu CRM and Kipu EMRtogether, which Matthew described as extremely difficult towork with. At the same time, he had very limited capacity tomanage a complex or hands-on implementation.

He had been in the role for only a few months, theorganization was growing quickly, and his time was alreadyconsumed by expansion, staffing, and regulatory work. Whathe needed was not just an integration. He needed stability,speed, and a partner who could execute with minimal burdenon his team.

Why Braided

Matthew had already seen the difference Braided madeat Clean Recovery Centers.

When Braided replaced the previous integration approach,the experience changed immediately. Support becamedirect and human. Matthew had direct access to theBraided team and could text or call when something wentwrong. Issues were addressed quickly, regardless of time ofday, and problems stopped lingering unresolved.That experience created trust. So, when his currentorganization decided to migrate from Kipu CRM toSalesforce, Matthew brought Braided in without hesitation.

What Braided Delivered

Braided implemented the Salesforce and Kipuintegration with minimal disruption to Matthew’s team.The engagement was intentionally low-lift.

Matthew described it as one discovery call, followed by aclear list of requirements. After that, Braided handled thework independently. There were no repeated check-ins,no drawn-out debates over fields, and no constant callsasking for confirmation. The integration was completedquickly and correctly, allowing Matthew to stay focusedon running the business instead of managing a vendor.

CollaborateMD Integrationfor Financial & AuthorizationVisibility

Braided also integrated CollaborateMD with Salesforce,which fundamentally changed how leadership accessedperformance data.Before this integration, Matthew’s CEO frequently askedfor revenue figures, authorizationstatus, and other operational metrics. Answering thosequestions required Matthew to switchbetween systems and manually compile responses.

With data synced into Salesforce, Matthew built anexecutive dashboard that surfaced:

• Monthly revenue andaccounts receivabledata
• Authorization information tracked in CollaborateMD 
• Operational metrics leadership reviews regularly 

The result was immediate. Leadership no longer needed to chase Matthew for updates, and Matthew no longer had to interrupt his team or his own work to assemble reports.

Reliable, Responsive Support

Post-implementation, reliability became the norm.Matthew reported very few issues overall. The onenotable issue occurred when they began pushingutilization review data from Kipu into Salesforce. Theresolution was straight forward. A meeting was setexpeditiously, explained the issue, and it was fixedby the next day.

His experience since then has been consistent:

• No system crashes 
• No recurring problems 
• Requests handled within hours, or a day at most 
• No need to chase support or escalate tickets 

For Matthew, the best indicator of success wassimple. He does not have to think about theintegration. It just works.

The Impact

Meaningful TimeSavings for Leadership

The most tangible impact of Braided’s work wastime reclaimed by leadership. By eliminatingconstant system switching and manual reporting,Matthew and his CEO saved hours every week. Matthew estimated that the hours per week savedacross himself and his CEO was extremely valuablegiven their workload and expansion timeline.

He also put a practical dollar value on that time,stating that the hours per week saved were worththousands to him personally.

Operational Stability During Rapid Growth

As the organization scaled, the integrationremained stable. Matthew emphasized thatoutside of the early UR issue, there have been nocrashes and no persistent problems. That stabilityreduced operational risk and allowed leadership tofocus on growth, construction, staffing, andregulatory work rather than troubleshootingsystems.

Improved Leadership Visibility Without Added Overhead

With key financial and authorization data available inSalesforce, leadership gained real-time visibility withoutincreasing operational burden.

Patrick, the CEO, could access dashboards directly instead ofrelying on ad hoc updates. That reduced interruptions,improved decision-making speed, and allowed Matthew tospend less time answering routine questions and more timerunning operations.

A Vendor Relationship Built on Trust

Matthew’s confidence in Braided is reflected in his behavior.He pays without hesitation, refers other operators regularly,and continues to rely on Braided as a long-term partner.

For him, the value is not theoretical. It is the absence offriction, the reliability of the systems, and the knowledge thatwhen something does go wrong, it will be handled quicklyandcompetently.

Summary

Braided delivered more than an integration. They delivered operational stability, leadership visibility, and meaningful time savingsduring a critical growth phase.By connecting Salesforce, Kipu, and CollaborateMD into a reliable, low-maintenance system,Braided removed friction from daily operations and reduced the hidden cost of leadership reporting and system management.

‍For Matthew Schaefer and his teams, the impact is clear: fewer distractions, better visibility,tangible savings, and the confidence to scale without worrying about whether the systems will hold.