CIO50 Australia 2024: John Vohradsky, IRT Group

Name: John Vohradsky
Title: Chief Information Officer
Company: IRT Group
Commenced role: August 2018
Reporting line: Chief Executive Officer
Member of the executive team:  Yes
Technology Function: 32 staff, four direct reports
 
IRT Group is one of Australia’s largest community-owned, not-for-profit providers of retirement living, residential aged care and home care.
 
Falls pose a significant risk to the well-being and safety of elderly individuals, leading to injuries, hospitalisations and negative impacts on overall health and quality of life.
 
Within IRT, falls are a prevalent issue, with 350 falls occurring each month, leaving many elderly persons at risk of serious injuries every single day.
 
Falls have a significant impact on IRT staff, due to time required to address the actual fall and any follow-on actions required, they can also be extremely stressful events for all staff involved.
 
Through the analysis of historical data, IRT identified that 42 per cent of the falls result in injuries and 12 per cent of these injuries require hospital transfers.
 
The consequences of falls extend beyond physical injuries. Even in cases where there are no visible injuries, falls often lead to a decline in confidence and mobility, mood disturbances, social isolation, and increased dependence on staff
 
Overall, the objective is to create a safer and more secure environment for the residents and staff, where the risk of falls is effectively identified and addressed.
 
Under the leadership of chief information officer John Vohradsky, IRT Group developed two groundbreaking technologies to address this critical issue.
 
Predicting falls using machine learning
 
IRT’s Falls Predictor leverages machine learning (ML) techniques to predict falls in elderly residents. By utilising over 85+ different data items on each resident, including lifestyle, behaviour, medical history, environmental factors, actual radar driven falls detection and relevant health metrics.
 
This was initially developed for IRT’s Home Care customers and then later for the aged care facilities.
 
“Never before have all these data points been captured in one platform with the sole purpose of identifying residents at risk of falling,” says Vohradsky.
 
The system was developed by IRT on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) environment using the Sage Maker Studio modelling tools.
 
To train and align the final ML models, the results from the initial models were compared with historical data. This iterative process ensured that the developed models accurately reflected the falls risk status of residents. The latest results were an impressive prediction accuracy of around 89%
 
“Once the ML models were finalised they were applied to the collected data to generate personalised insights and recommendations for falls prevention,” says Vohradsky. “The system tracked and displayed trends in falls risk over time, enabling staff to monitor residents’ progress and identify any patterns or changes that would require intervention.”
 
The value to the organisation for this innovation included a reduction in falls and hospitalisations, changes in behaviour and reduced staff costs.
 

Proactively preventing falls in patients
In the second half of 2023, IRT launched a more proactive innovation that anticipates and helps prevent falls altogether.

Developed with their IT partner, Extranet Systems, this technology empowers staff to make informed decisions regarding exercise programs, environmental modifications, medication adjustments, and personalised care plans. Continuous monitoring of vital signs allows early detection of health issues, enabling timely interventions.

The system integrates seamlessly with IRT’s existing Nursecall and reporting platforms, enhancing data visualization through Power BI and optimizing staff workflows. Real-time alerts and AI-driven analytics improve operational efficiency while allowing staff to focus more on direct resident care.

Benefits include reduced manual monitoring, improved care quality, cost savings through optimised staffing, and enhanced reputation and competitive advantage for IRT.
 
Driving innovation in aged care
 
Under Vohradsky’s guidance, IRT has become an industry leader in aged care innovation. His influence extends beyond technology to advising the board and executive team, transforming strategic visions into actionable plans. Vohradsky attributes this success to several factors:
– A clear, multi-year IT strategy.
– A track record of secure and stable IT operations.
– Successful project delivery and core system implementations.
– Strong commercial acumen.

As a trusted advisor, Vohradsky has ensured technology remains central to the organisation’s strategic discussions. He has implemented a structured IT strategy that includes rolling IT roadmaps for each business unit, connecting legacy systems through an advanced Enterprise Service Bus (ESB), and establishing an enterprise-wide approach to data analytics. This has unlocked data across silos, creating real-time insights through a cloud-based Snowflake data warehouse and Power BI dashboards for informed decision-making.

IRT Group CEO Patrick Reid says Vohradsky has been instrumental in pushing the organisation forward.
 
“As our CIO, John has effectively turned the organisation’s strategic visions into concrete, workable strategies. His skill in making esoteric concepts into solid results has pushed forward our technical abilities and inspired our leadership team to embark on courageous, inventive initiatives.”