The pioneers of the data revolution: Clearsense empowers organizations to harness the full potential of data

Our goal is to reduce complexity in data assembly and access.

Based in Jacksonville, Florida, Clearsense LLC is a technology company providing organization stakeholders with the ability to unlock the power of their disparate data sources to lower costs, increase revenue opportunities, and improve outcomes.

The Clearsense platform solves the fundamental data problem by ingesting, organizing, and translating all healthcare stakeholder data into one place, in real-time, and in proper form in any combination for any internal or third-party analytics functions.

Clearsense: Organizing the chaos of healthcare

Clearsense began in 2016 with Charles Boicey, Chief Innovation Officer and Gene Scheurer, Chief Executive Officer. Charles has the vision to create a truly complete picture of a person through data – not just clinical data – but financial, operational, social media, social determinant, and social media data, etc. Together, Charles and Gene began to build the technical infrastructure necessary to achieve this vision—the vision to end the era of disconnected data.

In December of 2017, Joy Fulton joined the team as Vice President of Product Development and Client Delivery. Joy’s personal mission and vision were in alignment with ending the era of disconnected data. Joy’s skills were quickly noticed by Gene and in April 2018, she became the Chief Operating Officer. With this move, the company established the Clearsense Data Platform business case and set out on a capital raise. Within nine months, it achieved its investment goal and became the data platform of choice for the second-ranked top U.S. hospital in U.S. News & World Report’s 2018-19 Best Hospitals. As of February 2019, Clearsense is in contracting with three additional health systems.

In conversation with the doyenne of healthcare IT, Joy Fulton, COO

Explain the challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?

When I joined this organization, Clearsense was pursuing too many use cases by building multiple end-user applications in an attempt to highlight the value of the platform. When in all actuality, focusing on the data, the platform was able to ingest, transform, and visualize is in itself the greatest value proposition we have to offer the market. I eliminated all end-user applications and honed in on our defined value proposition and re-launched the business.

What are the major attributes required to be a successful leader?

Effective Communication: The ability to communicate effectively within all areas of the company is critical. You cannot be focused on “just business” or “just tech”; you have to be a translator and facilitate communication across the entire organization.

Emotional Intelligence: A successful leader needs the willingness and the ability to tune into people on the front lines while also thinking big picture strategy. For me, it is necessary to cultivate a culture of real-time feedback instilling into each member of my team, the right to mindfully pause, see the situation for what it is, and avoid getting swept into a reactive stance. Effective problem solving has to be data-driven.

Focus: Driving ideation to delivery has been utilized as a tagline to summarize my career. I am known for continuously asking “What problem are we trying to solve?” It is easy to lose focus in an IT environment, as you can get buried in gathering requirements, losing sight of clients’ business needs. Continually asking “What problem are we trying to solve?” keeps us focused both externally on our clients and internally on driving for results.

Is there any person who inspired or motivated you?

Jim Valvano, an inspirational basketball coach, sports broadcaster, and motivational speaker was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 46 and is known for his quotes “Don’t Give Up. Don’t ever give up.” And “You have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal. And you have to be willing to work for it.”

Both of these statements and the way Jim lived his life are an inspiration; these two statements sum everything up for me.

What do you think is the most memorable moment in your career?

The path of your career is not always planned, one chance encounter can open the door to greater opportunity than you ever imagined. The most memorable moment in my career is how I joined Clearsense.

What do you hope to accomplish in the long run?

As health expenditures continue to skyrocket and individual life expectancy continues to increase, we are faced with the need to unlock the power of all the data we have to begin seeing the full picture of each individual interacting with the healthcare ecosystem – for both preventative and treatment reasons. Helping drive down the cost of healthcare to increase access for everyone is my passion. By making data available for all components of the stakeholder spectrum in a format they can ingest and utilize to power their businesses and make data-driven decisions with full transparency is the key to delivering on this goal.

Meet the trailblazer

Joy Fulton, Chief Operating Officer: Joy is a Health Information Technology (HIT) Industry Leader. She is recognized as an SME (“Subject Matter Expert”) in the healthcare insurance payment stream and HIT. Joy is known for her passionate drive fueling innovation for the movement of patient clinical data between and among providers, health plans, vendors and regulatory bodies. She has a deep and extensive understanding of various systems and legislation, including Platform as a Service (PaaS); Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, and other government regulations and current legislation.

Throughout her broad experience within healthcare insurance markets focused on Medicare, Medicaid, and Affordable Care Act (ACA) populations, she has led initiatives to capture relevant patient data elements in existing workflows for both health plans and providers to comply with HHS, CMS, and State Medicaid regulations.

While Joy’s experience is broad, her industry knowledge is deep. She has a detailed understanding of HIPAA, HITECH, Medicare, Medicaid, ACA, government processes, Medicaid Management Information Systems (MMIS), and health plan care management and claims adjudication platforms.

“I believe a data environment should be viewed as a living, breathing organism that detects and responds to changes, continuously learns and adapts, and provides governed, tailored access to every individual.”