Overview

Matthew Schaefer is a senior operations leader in behavioral health with deep experience running admissions, utilization review, and revenue critical workflows. He has partnered with Braided across two organizations, previously as an Admissions Director, and later at his current organization, Real Recovery Solutions, as Director of Operations.

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

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

The Challenge

Before working with Braided, Matthew’s experience with integrations was defined by friction, slow support, and unnecessary leadership overhead.

At his prior organization, the initial integration vendor technically worked, but support was not meeting expectations. When something broke, Matthew had no direct contact and often waited a full day or longer for a response. For a 24/7 admissions environment, that delay created risk and constant distraction for leadership.

At his current organization, the challenge was even more acute. They were operating with Kipu CRM and Kipu EMR together, which Matthew described as extremely difficult to work with. At the same time, he had very limited capacity to manage a complex or hands-on implementation.

He had been in the role for only a few months, the organization was growing quickly, and his time was already consumed by expansion, staffing, and regulatory work. What he needed was not just an integration. He needed stability, speed, and a partner who could execute with minimal burden on his team.

Why Braided

Matthew had already seen the difference Braided made at Clean Recovery Centers.

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

What Braided Delivered

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

Matthew described it as one discovery call, followed by a clear list of requirements. After that, Braided handled the work independently. There were no repeated check-ins, no drawn-out debates over fields, and no constant calls asking for confirmation. The integration was completed quickly and correctly, allowing Matthew to stay focused on running the business instead of managing a vendor.

CollaborateMD Integration for Financial & Authorization Visibility

Braided also integrated CollaborateMD with Salesforce, which fundamentally changed how leadership accessed performance data. Before this integration, Matthew’s CEO frequently asked for revenue figures, authorization status, and other operational metrics. Answering those questions required Matthew to switch between systems and manually compile responses.

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

• Monthly revenue and accounts receivable data
• 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 one notable issue occurred when they began pushing utilization review data from Kipu into Salesforce. Their solution was straight forward. A meeting was set expeditiously, explained the issue, and it was fixed by 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 the integration. It just works.

The Impact

Meaningful TimeSavings for Leadership

The most tangible impact of Braided’s work was time reclaimed by leadership. By eliminating constant system switching and manual reporting, Matthew and his CEO saved hours every week. Matthew estimated that the hours per week saved across himself and his CEO was extremely valuable given their workload and expansion timeline.

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

Operational Stability During Rapid Growth

As the organization scaled, the integration remained stable. Matthew emphasized that outside of the early UR issue, there have been no crashes and no persistent problems. That stability reduced operational risk and allowed leadership to focus on growth, construction, staffing, and regulatory work rather than troubleshooting systems.

Improved Leadership Visibility Without Added Overhead

With key financial and authorization data available in Salesforce, leadership gained real-time visibility without increasing operational burden.

Patrick, the CEO, could access dashboards directly instead of relying on ad hoc updates. That reduced interruptions, improved decision-making speed, and allowed Matthew to spend less time answering routine questions and more time running 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 of friction, the reliability of the systems, and the knowledge that when something does go wrong, it will be handled quickly and competently.

Summary

Braided delivered more than an integration. They delivered operational stability, leadership visibility, and meaningful time savings during 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.