The Biggest Missed Connection Between Healthcare and Transportation

Jackson Steger
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Roundtrip responds to the challenge by growing a robust transportation marketplace

On average, NEMT companies have an active utilization rate of 35%. This means, for every 10 hours an ambulance, medical sedan, or wheelchair van is on the road, only 3.5 hours is spent transporting patients. Not only is it incredibly inefficient, but it is also the biggest missed connection between healthcare and transportation for the patients (10,000 every day, to be exact).

Why is this gap so massive? Why do so many patients struggle to get a ride when at the same time, NEMT companies seem to be struggling to find volume?

Roundtrip has created the first-of-its-kind digital marketplace for health systems, patients, and transportation companies. The healthcare organizations have a lot of patients that they need to move from point A to point B. This is what drives demand for vehicles and credentialed drivers to provide that trip. Roundtrip matches a region’s robust supply of NEMT vehicles with this demand created by healthcare organizations and patients. We saw building this marketplace as necessary to avoid the many silos that exist across healthcare and transportation networks. Roundtrip takes this complex challenge and makes it simple. Our intuitive model makes it easy for rides to be ordered for anyone.

The answers lie within a market failure to centralize transportation. Too many healthcare organizations are contracted with too few transportation companies. This is the single, biggest missed connection between healthcare and transportation.

To tackle this problem, Roundtrip aggregates NEMT transportation companies onto a single hub. Now patients have access to more transportation options. Healthcare providers are seamlessly connected to more transportation companies. Transportation companies are available to service more patients. Win. Win. Win.

Building a Robust Transportation Network

Roundtrip has a nationwide network with fast-growing segments in Greater Richmond, Greater San Francisco, Greater Phoenix, Greater Philadelphia and the Tri-State Area. Due to the nature of the transportation marketplace, we’ve strategized what it means to launch in a new market and how we can guarantee transportation partners both business and benefit from joining Roundtrip.

We have built a complete onboarding process for success. We spend the time with care management teams and transport teams to ensure they understand the ins-and-outs of the marketplace. Whenever we enter a new market or bring on a new flagship client, we do the heavy lifting so we can support all types of patient rides anticipated.

This practice has been successful across different environments, from urban clinics in Philadelphia and Baltimore to rural hospitals in places like Arkansas and Mississippi.  Roundtrip holds transportation companies across all states to rigorous credentialing standards to guarantee vehicle and driver quality.

Industry Partnerships

Roundtrip is actively engaged on the advisory board of the Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Commission (NEMTAC). There, we are collaborating with other industry leaders to ensure quality and training standards to over 17,000 NEMT companies.

Exchanging ideas and problem-solving with this influential group of industry leaders has also opened the doors to the growing curiosity about joining our marketplace. Over 3,500 NEMT providers are currently serving our partner healthcare organizations and their patients through Roundtrip at the time of publishing.

Tailored Technology, Built with Our Partners

Whether through integrations with other innovative health tech companies or through internal product upgrades, Roundtrip is constantly iterating to meet both healthcare organizations and transportation company needs.

Roundtrip is a marketplace, not a network or a broker. This means that transportation companies are measured on their quality of service. This is to the advantage of the patient, healthcare organization, the peers within transportation companies. When a hospital care manager requests a ride, the transportation company that is able to show up soonest with the right ride wins that ride. Imagine a care manager books a BLS ambulance ride for 3 PM. If “Ambulance Company A” submits an ETA of 3:10 PM as the earliest time they can realistically show up, and “Ambulance Company B” submits an ETA of 3:05 PM, “Ambulance Company B” claims that ride.

We are excited to lead the industry with this digital transportation marketplace model. We are vastly minimizing the wait time that once existed between the moment a patient is ready to go and when they actually get their ride home. As Roundtrip continues to scale and expand, we are happy to meet new transportation companies who are ready to transform the healthcare transportation experience with us.