How Pearl Healthcare increased census by 43% in their second quarter using ExaCare AI

Learn how Pearl Healthcare improved their internal systems and freed up leadership’s time to focus on strategic growth across their 14 Illinois facilities.

Pearl replaced their existing admissions software with ExaCare AI as the operating system for intake across their 14 Chicago-area facilities.

ExaCare AI centralized referral activity across four disconnected referral platforms, gave regional leadership real-time visibility across every building, and helped admissions teams respond faster and more consistently to every patient. The result was a system that “makes [admissions] 20x easier” and a team that “truly couldn’t be happier with the switch”.

Key Results

• 43% increase in census in their second quarter with ExaCare AI, attributed by leadership to improved efficiency with ExaCare’s Admissions Screener.
• 76% of referrals have a first review in < 20 minutes, up from 62% before ExaCare AI (representing a +23% improvement).
• 2.6x increase in referral-to-admit win rate, compared to the first two months using ExaCare AI.

“Right now, I’m helping our Hinsdale building, and we’ll get 40, maybe 50 referrals a day. Having ExaCare AI just smooths our referral process out so much and makes it 20 times easier. I truly couldn’t be happier with the switch.” — Jessica Dikun, Regional Director of Admissions

The Customer: Pearl Healthcare

“With ExaCare AI, our internal teams have a remarkable tool to manage referrals from start to finish. The improved process gives me the flexibility to focus more on market development, engage in higher-level C-suite conversations, and spend more time in the field myself.” — Tanya Carlson, VP of Business Development

The Stakeholders

The Challenge: System Unreliability and Lack of Visibility

Pearl’s previous CRM created re-ocurring operational disruptions for the team, from unexpected system crashes to broken referral platform integrations to data accuracy and reporting issues. Referral communication was also buried in emails across 14 facilities, consuming leadership’s time and energy, as opposed to being centralized in one system. For someone with Tanya’s experience, it became clear that a change was needed. This is a common situation that many larger operators find themselves in: the existing tools and software they’re using have not been able to keep pace with the growing complexities and pace of their operations.

Pearl’s intake reality with thousands of referrals each month looked like:

1. No centralized source of truth: Referrals arrived through four platforms, each requiring separate logins. Despite having a centralized admissions software, it became quite unreliable, forcing staff to toggle between portals and email inboxes to track a single patient.
2. Regional visibility relied on manual outreach: Jess didn’t have a consistent, repeatable method for getting information on facility-level operations (e.g., how many referrals are pending, why are they pending, was the hospital liaison included, etc.).
3. Inconsistent data reporting: Reporting was limited, and while it was easy to understand, the accuracy was consistently questioned, which made operational decision-making hard for Tanya and Jess.
4. A challenging-to-use CRM: With re-occurring system outages and unstable platform integrations, which are critical in the referral process, the team had difficulty keeping pace with their growing referral volume and operational needs.
5. Leadership time diverted towards system management: Tanya and Jess were spending an increasing amount of time managing systems and fielding questions from staff about said systems, instead of spending time on market development and facility oversight.

Pearl needed a system that was able to deliver a consistent and reliable service, a central place for referral intake, and improve visibility across their growing portfolio.

The Solution: A Centralized and Reliable Operating System

Tanya, Jess, and Elie Grinblatt (Chief Operating Officer) evaluated several alternatives quickly. The team had concerns about buy-in across 14 buildings and admissions directors, some of whom weren’t comfortable with having to learn new systems. They also knew, from prior system rollouts, that what’s promised in a sales process often doesn’t match with reality.

ExaCare AI’s transparency, product capabilities, and responsiveness during the process were the distinguishing factors for the Pearl team.

“ExaCare almost seemed too good to be true at first. We’d ask for something, and within 48 hours, it was delivered. With many CRM solutions, there’s often a bait-and-switch feeling—but with ExaCare, that hasn’t been the case. The honeymoon phase is still going strong.” — Tanya

With ExaCare AI, the Pearl team was able to:

• Centralize referral intake from all platforms into one system, ending the portal-switching and saving staff time on every referral review.
• Get activity tracking in one place with Tanya and Jess having visibility into each referral, their status, and the team’s comments or notes.
• Improve clinical screening with rigorous rule configuration during onboarding, alongside the ExaCare Implementation Team.

“The admissions directors are very happy now in their positions. And that means the world, just knowing that it’s a better work-life balance for them now.” — Tanya

The Implementation:

“Katie, our ExaCare Implementation Lead, was absolutely incredible—patient, dedicated, and always willing to meet with us. The training was excellent, and the difference between our previous vendor’s support and ExaCare’s is truly night and day.” — Tanya

Pearl ran both systems in parallel for a week before their previous vendor off-boarded them unexpectedly, forcing a full rollout of ExaCare AI ahead of schedule. The first two weeks of implementation could have been challenging for the Pearl team given the expedited timeline, with training sessions for staff and rule configuration decisions condensed into a shorter window, while managing their regular day-to-day responsibilities. However, with the support of ExaCare AI’s Implementation Team, Tanya and Jess felt an immediate difference in their vendor relationship, compared to before. ExaCare AI ran multiple sessions, answered every question, and were consistently available.

“For me, it was simple: no more complaints from the team. No news is good news. When the frantic calls and texts stopped, I thought, this is heaven-sent.” — Tanya

The Impact: Operational Consistency and Census Growth

• 43% increase in census in their second quarter with ExaCare AI, attributed by leadership to improved efficiency with ExaCare’s Admission Screener.
• 76% of referrals have a first review in < 20 minutes, up from 62% before ExaCare AI (representing a +23% improvement).
• 2.6x increase in referral-to-admit win rate, compared to the first two months using ExaCare AI.

“We saw a noticeable increase in census, which I directly correlate with ExaCare. There were no significant marketing changes on our end—no new admissions leaders or external liaisons—so the impact came from improved efficiency. We’re now able to say yes more often, and much more quickly.” — Tanya

What’s Next: Continued Growth and Reporting Improvements

Pearl has begun to shape the direction of ExaCare AI’s product development. The team’s feedback has driven improvements in reporting capabilities, bed board functionality, and influenced the product roadmap as a trusted partner.

“Jess and I almost feel like part of the development team. We’ll say, ‘This is great, but we’d love to see X, Y, and Z,’ and the ExaCare AI team turns those requests around quickly. That responsiveness has been incredible.” — Tanya