Hi Chris, I'm not an expert on Matrix Groupings, but have you tried adding conditional formatting within the Matrix Settings? When you switch to Matrix Grouping and then click on Matrix Settings, you'll see this:
As the above indicates, you'll need to summarize one of your columns before you can add conditional formatting. In this case, if you choose your Status column to Summarize by Count, you will then see this:
Where it will allow you to set up conditional formatting (color coding, etc.): Terry Hynd EBSCO Information Services