Today, 78% of Americans over the age of 55 have a chronic condition that requires medical transportation and ongoing medical visits. According to the United Nations World Population Report, Between 2015 and 2030, the number of people in the world aged 60 years or over is expected to grow by 56%, from just over 900 million to nearly 1.5 billion. By 2050, the global population of people older than 60 is expected to jump to two billion. In the United States, the number of Americans over the age of 65 is expected to double from roughly 50 million today to nearly 100 million by 2060. The need for transportation is growing and costing healthcare organizations millions of dollars per year- costs that will continue to increase as the population ages.
How can healthcare organizations accommodate this growing need with thinning budgets?
Time is money.
From an operational perspective, social workers and care coordinators spend far too much time on task booking rides for their patients – 17 hours a month to be exact. Why is that number so high? The average time spent on coordinating just one ride for a patient over the phone is around 18 minutes.
With an online single touch point solution for transportation coordination, that booking time can be reduced by over 90% from 18 minutes/ride to about 90 seconds/ride. Giving social workers and care coordinators back their time means they can get back to focusing more on patient care.
Don’t pay for covered rides
If you haven’t already, check out our previous blog on government-funded transportation. What you need to know: Medicaid will pay for eligible non-emergency trips for patients who can walk, use a wheelchair, or require a stretcher or ambulance, while Medicare covers eligible non-emergency trips if a patient requires an ambulance. In fact, over 50% of Roundtrip’s rides are covered.
Make sure that your care coordinators know what rides can go through the Medicaid/Medicare system, and stop picking up the bill if you don’t have to.
Cut 40% of costs from your taxi voucher program
A taxi voucher can be like a blank check, with no way to prove that the voucher was used for the designated ride or distance. Roundtrip leverages the power of the Lyft rideshare network where you can guarantee pickup and drop off locations and get rides for 40% cheaper. The Lyft network is available nationally, so you can get started saving today.