Five Questions with Gary Pederson MatrixCare’s new Senior Vice President, Life Plan Communities (LPC) Solutions

Why did you take this position?

I am very excited about my role for many reasons.  Our aging citizens, my parents included, deserve to receive the high level of care that can be provided when their communities have access to well-automated and integrated technologies.  The opportunities that exist in the Life Plan Community sector to create more proactive and effective care plans, using an integrated platform, certainly remind me of my 15-year career at Cerner, when we did the same for hospitals.  Secondly, MatrixCare is uniquely positioned as the leader in the post-acute community and has a strong appetite for making the investments needed to develop, deliver and support world-class solutions across the spectrum…skilled nursing, home health, senior living and life plan communities.  Finally, I’ve been fortunate to play many roles in healthcare technology throughout my career and this opportunity aligns perfectly with that experience.

What is your proudest career achievement?

Over the years, I have been on teams that have delivered many hard fought, multi-million dollar contracts, partnering with dozens of marquis healthcare clients across the country.  However, my proudest career achievement is the number of professionals that are successful contributors in this business that I played a small part in mentoring over the years.

How do you see the LTPAC (or LPC) industry changing?

Quality measures tied to reimbursements (or penalties) will continue to drive innovation around care coordination, therapeutic accountability, patient and family engagement, wellness planning and community-based care.  Companies that can deliver the value while making continual investments to lead in these areas will have the most impact in improving the lives of our seniors.  I look forward to LPC playing an increasing translational research role in the areas of Parkinson’s and dementia, bringing proven, clinical research to practice in a shorter amount of time.

What role does technology play in the future?

While today’s septuagenarian is not necessarily versed in all things technology, chances are high that their children and certainly their grandchildren are.  As systems are deployed to deliver more resident-specific care-planning, the families will be connected more than ever to ensure grandpa and grandma are receiving the appropriate clinical attention, are playing an active role in their own health and are adhering to fundamentals (medication adherence, doctor’s visits, lab appointments, clinical data sharing, etc.).

If you did not have a career in technology, what would you be doing?

Hands down… a singer-songwriter.  Likely a very poor, homeless singer-songwriter.  I played the guitar for several years as a youngster and later developed an odd knack to write poems.  I have a ‘catalogue’ of lyrics to 30+ songs (and have ‘written’ 2 children’s books and countless roasts for my friends’ milestone birthdays).  When things wind down one day, I’d like to find a musical collaborator and produce a song or two that my kids can laugh at from time to time.