Introducing Roundtrip Community

Vinay Nagaraj
WellRyde and RoundTrip Partnership

Roundtrip, a health tech startup, is launching the Roundtrip Community — an online marketplace that connects medical transportation providers to rides requested by health systems and health plans. As the first marketplace of its kind, the Roundtrip Community empowers a nationwide network of credentialed medical transportation providers to gain access to available rides and serve patients efficiently. 

Previously, transportation providers would have operated in an isolated manner. Now, they can leverage Roundtrip’s technology to seamlessly receive and respond to more ride requests without investing in costly alternatives. 

The Roundtrip Community’s transportation network spans coast-to-coast, with providers operating in over 23 states and 100 cities. 

By 2020, the Roundtrip Community anticipates operations in 48 states with expansion into overseas markets, including single-payer health system countries.

Traditionally, coordinating medical transportation has been clunky and availability-driven rather than quality-driven. The Roundtrip Community has changed this. It vastly improves booking efficiency by concurrently pushing ride requests out to a network of transportation providers that meet patient needs and operate in the service area.

With real-time, voiceless ride requests, transportation providers can expand access and maximize the efficiency of their fleet. 

Similar to ridesharing models, medical transportation providers can now select and claim rides in real-time.

In addition to the efficiency, rides are communicated with complete, auditable information, maximizing operational efficiencies regarding payment reconciliation. The Roundtrip Community platform gathers transportation requests and serves as the record keeper. This allows Roundtrip to pay our vendors within 15 days of the previous month and equips transportation providers with the correct information to be reimbursed by health plans. 

Roundtrip Community launches alongside integration with WellRyde and Trip Master by CTS Software. With these integrations, transportation providers can receive ride requests and seamlessly dispatch them directly to vehicles through the Roundtrip Community. As a result, transportation provides can reduce call center spending and allocate those funds to grow their transportation resources. This integration will offer more trip volume to providers and provide additional trip transparency and data collection for every trip. 

The implications of this technology are staggering. Roundtrip Community is responding to one of the top-cited challenges for patients and the third most significant barrier that causes missed appointments in America. 

Anantha Rao, COO & CTO of WellRyde, remarks, “Missed appointments cost the US healthcare system more than $150 billion a year. A vast majority of health care appointments are less than satisfactory in terms of fast, streamlined experience for patients. The Roundtrip and WellRyde partnership bridges the transportation gap and vastly improves the rider experience.”

Roundtrip CIO Ankit Mathur says, “With our recent integrations with NEMT and EMS dispatch software systems, the Roundtrip Community will be the first to digitally connect transportation providers and drivers, regardless of the dispatch software they choose to use, directly to rides available in their area. This community of medical transportation providers helps hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and health plans provide a more transparent transportation experience to patients in need. It’s certainly a game changer.” 

The Roundtrip Community is designed for medical transportation providers, but the solution impacts people throughout the care continuum. 

Where data was once lost over the phone, the Roundtrip Community prioritizes data transparency and high-quality service.

Now, care coordinators can easily request a ride with near-instant access to accurate data on expected arrival times and locations as a vehicle is en route. This increases their ability to manage their patient population’s transportation needs effectively. 

This level of detail and data transparency has never been possible in healthcare transportation. The efficiency and information supported by the Roundtrip Community reduces the number of delayed or missed rides. This gives patients and care coordinators a secure and reliable ride coordination process. With innovations like this, we are that much closer to making the patient journey a smoother one.