Securing a ride for a medical appointment can be quite an ordeal, especially for the elderly and the disabled. Taxis and other forms of public transportation are usually not reliably outfitted with the space and equipment needed to make the journey comfortable for them. As a result, many often rely on non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) services to bring them to the medical facilities they need to go to while ensuring they stay safe and are well attended to during the trip.
As demand for NEMT services increase, transport providers should look into investing in software that can help make their operations more efficient. If you’re due to implement a NEMT software solution soon for your organization, here are the top features you should be looking for in any solution that you’ll be investing in:
1) Efficient Route Planning
While they don’t deal with emergencies per se, NEMT drivers are still expected to prioritize taking the most efficient routes to their destination to ensure their passengers are able to arrive on time for their medical appointments. After all, delays aren’t only an inconvenience in this case; they may also cause discomfort or unnecessary strain on the passenger’s condition.
Your chosen NEMT dispatching software should be one capable of determining the best routes for your client’s trips. With helpful tools such as GPS and AI, plotting the quickest route from one pick-up location to another can be done in just a few clicks.
Digitized route planning doesn’t only lessen room for error, but it also optimizes how many trips your vehicles can accomplish during the day without getting bogged down by pen-and-paper approvals and documentation. In the long run, this will unlock significant cost savings for your organization.
2) A Convenient Scheduling System
For NEMT businesses with multiple vehicles under their management, having a well-regulated scheduling system is vital, as this is what will give your business the power to maximize your vehicle deployment. A good NEMT solution should have an intuitive interface that’s able to summarize all scheduled trips at a glance, allowing you to monitor ongoing transports or make schedule changes with ease.
Having a digital scheduling system is also convenient for drivers who wish to change or trade shifts. If the schedule is completely online, it won’t be hard to quicken or even automate necessary approval processes. Staff will have the freedom to make the best out of their availability and lessen their risk of burning out due to inefficient scheduling.
3) Streamlined Dispatch Workflow
There are many things to consider when dispatching a vehicle for pick-up. Not all NEMT vehicles are the same, as some may be more equipped to handle certain passengers than others. For example, if the passenger is a bedridden patient, then you’d want to send a vehicle that has enough room to accommodate a stretcher. Manually deciding these arrangements can take time, but a capable solution should help streamline the process.
Your NEMT software should capably assist you in keeping track of all the vehicles in your fleet and noting down which features or equipment are available to each. Through a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system, the NEMT solution should be able to automatically assign which vehicles are suitable for a specific call so that your human staff doesn’t waste precious time manually checking and confirming among your available drivers. It should also take into account proximity, priority, and other trip details to ensure that you’re able to respond to each call in a timely manner.
4) Fully Integrated Record Keeping
Electronic Patient care reports (ePCRs) are necessary documents that must be accomplished as part of every ride. A ePCR carries details on how the transport went or if any complications arose in its duration. In addition to being a useful reference for patient care, ePCR is also needed for the creation of invoices and for bills processing.
Having NEMT software that fully integrates ePCR entries into each dispatch allows for quicker completion of reports that can otherwise get overlooked. EPCR systems contain data fields that authorized users can just easily fill in or customize by themselves to suit the nature of each transport. This makes filing every report not only easier, but more organized as well, given that everything is automatically compiled and checked for errors in the system for quick retrieval later on.
5) Hassle-Free Processing of Billing, Claims, and Remittance
Managing your cash flow is important for keeping your NEMT operations afloat and ensuring that you have the means to constantly improve your services. Recurring mistakes on data or claims input can get costly quite fast, so consider procuring NEMT software that allows you to automate the entire process. This will help you stay on top of your billing tasks and increase your business efficiency overall.
The great thing about having an NEMT solution handle your operations from start to finish is that it’s able to consolidate any data needed to process billing in a matter of seconds. This eliminates the need to re-enter the same data, allowing you to just retrieve the necessary information to file the claim immediately after the transport is done. Features like automated billing schedules, insurance verification, and the ability to add charges or credits further streamline the billing process and increase the likelihood of it going smoothly.
Conclusion
The NEMT industry is becoming an increasingly competitive market, and you shouldn’t fall behind your competitors or disappoint your passengers by relying on an outdated workflow. Consider implementing an NEMT solution that has the features mentioned above to improve your day-to-day operations and to consistently provide your clients with excellent service.
