As the number of elderly Americans with chronic conditions and multiple comorbidities increases, and patient care moves to innovative outpatient models, non-emergency medical transportation is a category that will continue to grow in both importance and utilization.
Several players in the space, like Roundtrip and Circulation, have received funding in the last year alone, and rideshare companies such as Lyft and Uber have recently entered the healthcare market by offering similar services through strategic partnerships. In a mark of industry maturation, Circulation was recently acquired by LogistiCare, an NEMT broker. However, amidst the growing hype and mounting financial investment in NEMT, it is critical to recognize that not all providers are capable of delivering the same level of medical transportation services.
Today, hospitals and health systems face unique challenges when it comes to addressing and managing the flow of patients. NEMT goes beyond simply getting patients to a healthcare institution, by also helping to transport patients out of the hospital during the discharge process. When looking at both the entrance and exit of patients, not all NEMT players are in a position to optimize patient flow, as some providers are not able to efficiently and effectively manage interfacility ambulance and wheelchair transport, for example bringing patients to the doctor, freestanding clinics, or to receive dialysis treatment.
In many cases, patients who use popular rideshare services are able to move on their own, and following discharge, are physically capable of waiting in a lobby or designated pick-up location. But what about the patients requiring higher levels of care, such as patients with mobility issues, or those that require an ambulance, that need to physically be moved by EMTs, paramedics, and wheelchair drivers? It is these types of individuals with more specific transport needs who are most greatly impacting the discharge bottlenecks. The current process for requesting NEMT is unpredictable and outdated. Healthcare facilities are transmitting the same information as they always have, but using outdated modes of communication that create substantial inefficiencies and discharge holdups.
Delays in medical transport result in a lag in hospital discharges, which can have substantial consequences. Backups in the discharge process lead to keeping other patients waiting for hospital beds, negatively impacting the quality of care and increasing already high healthcare costs. Today NEMT technologies exist that are capable of playing a crucial role in addressing these challenges, providing real-time integration with dispatch systems and automating medical necessity authorizations to allow healthcare institutions to instantly access the closest and most suitable transportation resources to meet patients’ personal requirements.
Tools are also available to help healthcare institutions easily schedule on-demand, recurring and multi-destination transportation for patients, streamlining the discharge process for hospitals and leading to improved patient throughput. As a result, hospitals achieve predictable and cost-effective medical transportation, improved discharge efficiencies and enhanced patient satisfaction and outcomes.
While NEMT has already proven to be a valuable part of the patient transportation process, the industry is doing itself a disservice if it fails to recognize the larger potential for the sector in regards to the opportunity to shorten hospital discharge times, advance operations and improve patient care and experience.