Philly Business Journal: Philadelphia health tech startup out to shake up medical transportation industry

Having worked as an emergency medical technician then later as a manager for one of country’s largest ambulance company’s, Mark Switaj knows all about the problems associated with scheduling and providing medical transportation services.

That’s why he has launched RoundTrip, a Philadelphia company that has created a web-based portal and mobile platform that makes it easier for care coordinators at health care facilities to connect patients in need of a ride with non-emergency medical transportation providers.

Switaj estimates the Philadelphia region is home to 40 medical transportation companies that provide a combined one million rides every year. “The challenge is that these companies operate at 35 percent efficiency on average,” he said. “We’ll work to connect these companies with hospitals and patients to simplify the process.”

RoundTrip’s management team consists of Switaj, who serves as chief executive officer; Ankit Mathur, the company’s chief information officer; and Angela Damiano, the company’s corporate administrator.

The trio put in $100,000 of their own money and raised another $400,000 from friends and family to start the company, which was formed at the start of the year and officially launched its service this week.

Unlike ride service companies like Uber and Lyft, which have expanded into the medical field which services and partnership aimed at patients who need a ride to a doctor’s appointment, RoundTrip’s focus is on serving hospitals, nursing homes and other care providers that need to transport patients, some who may require medical interventions or specialized vehicles during a trip, by ambulance, wheelchair van or other medical transportation vehicle.

“Our focus is on the care manager or social worker at a hospital who needs to transport a patient to a rehab facility,’ Switaj said. Another example, he said, is a person at long-term fare facility who needs to get a patient in a wheelchair to a medical appointment.