Transportation services are an essential component of the healthcare ecosystem. From critical services like ambulances to non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT), access to convenient and affordable transport options makes a major difference in patients’ lives.
When it comes to healthcare emergencies, serious injuries and pre-hospital treatments, the affected people will be relying on the Emergency Medical Services. These are usually operated by public or private for profit organizations and are heavily regulated. On the other hand, as it is evident from the name, NEMT services are reserved for less urgent medical transportation tasks. Nonetheless they are vital for millions of patients who would otherwise be unable to receive the appropriate amount of care.
Since NEMT is a less bureaucratized field with a lower entry point, the first-time entrepreneurs and small businesses prefer to occupy this niche. To meet patients’ needs and outpace the competition they have to remain agile, be ready to evolve and embrace the latest technological solutions. This competition has resulted in a relentless software race with the aim to achieve peak efficiency and customer satisfaction. If you run an NEMT company, this guide to harnessing the features and functionalities of this software can help boost your business.
How Can Software Solutions Help Your NEMT Business?
The number of companies that offer medical transportation services is increasing each year. In 2021, the NEMT market was valued at $8.6 billion, and it is projected to reach a value of over $15 billion by 2028. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9% indicates that many stakeholders, from passengers to providers, are realizing the value of NEMT services.
Running a medical transportation business that faces so much competition is a complex, multi-faceted operation. NEMT rides differ from the average journey in an Uber or a Lyft. These transportation companies serve a variety of passengers who will have special requirements due to medical conditions, which require specially outfitted vehicles and specially trained drivers.
NEMT companies also need to operate within the regulations that govern the healthcare industry, such as protecting patients’ confidentiality and adhering to protocols and billing codes when filing claims.
To put it simply, NEMT carriers face a transportation company’s logistical problems and a healthcare company’s administrative issues simultaneously. This unique scenario can be managed effectively with cutting-edge tools.
The growth of the non-emergency medical transportation industry has seen an accompanying rise in the development of dedicated NEMT software. These solutions are designed to streamline every aspect of running an NEMT business, encouraging fleet owners and managers to embrace digital transformation.
NEMT platforms like RouteGenie can boost performance in these key business areas:
- Routing
- Dispatching
- Billing
- Passenger experience
- Medical facility experience
- Employee experience
NEMT software helps your company eliminate inefficiencies in all its key processes, which is why every company should invest in a cutting-edge software solution.
Key Features of NEMT Software
NEMT platform is a modern solution to some of the industry’s longest-standing complications. It is packed with features that can instantly improve performance in the areas that really matter.
Several NEMT solutions are available, and you should select one that offers a comprehensive list of features covering every key business area. Here are the most important features of high-quality NEMT software like RouteGenie and how they can benefit your business.
Scheduling and Dispatching
Accepting trips and selecting the right vehicle and driver to complete them is a standard process for all medical transportation companies. Despite the routine nature of scheduling and dispatching, there are still several ways it can go wrong. Last-minute cancellations, vehicle breakdowns, and traffic conditions can disrupt carefully laid plans. Thankfully, IT solutions can automate this process and mitigate the effects of such disruptions.
Modern NEMT software features automated scheduling and rescheduling tools, enabling companies to accept trips from brokers or private passengers with ease. This pairs with an automated dispatching system, where the program automatically matches the trip requirements with the appropriate vehicle and driver from your fleet.
An NEMT platform also seamlessly integrates with GPS, so dispatchers can track vehicles in real time and select the optimal route for every trip.
Driver and Vehicle Management
An NEMT company’s drivers and vehicles are its most important assets. Passengers will rate their experience based on the quality of the vehicle and driver, which means they are also the face of the business. This makes driver and vehicle management an essential element of NEMT operations.
Medical transportation software can help streamline record-keeping and other processes related to driver and vehicle management. You can set up and easily stick to a maintenance schedule for all your vehicles and track your drivers’ certifications, qualifications, and driving record all in one place.
Automating these processes eliminates the risk of human error leading to lapsed driver certifications or missed servicing appointments for NEMT vehicles.
Patient Management
NEMT passengers include a wide variety of patients, ranging from the elderly to those with chronic health conditions. They are the beneficiaries and major sponsors of every medical transportation business. One thing that unites the disparate base of NEMT customers is that the majority of them need to use medical transportation services on a regular basis.
NEMT software is built to benefit not just providers but also passengers. It allows companies to maintain a database of customers, including their medical information and any personalized accommodations they might need during their trip.
The system also sends reminders about upcoming patient appointments and the need to book a ride, plus allows to integrate live customer support lines. These features allow carriers to deliver a much better experience whenever customers book a trip.
Billing and Invoicing
Many NEMT passengers rely on programs like Medicaid to be able to afford NEMT services. For transportation providers, that means having to file claims before receiving payment. This makes billing and invoicing one of the most stressful aspects of NEMT operations—using the right billing codes and correcting erroneous claims can be a very time-consuming and laborious process.
One of the biggest advantages of an NEMT platform is that it completely automates billing and invoicing. The software inputs the appropriate codes for every claim and can automatically rectify and resubmit any claims that were rejected after submission.
Modern NEMT software solutions integrate with insurance provider portals, creating seamless billing processes and allowing your accounts department to track and follow up on every pending payment.
Communication Tools, Facility Portal, and Passenger App
For NEMT operations to run smoothly, there must be clear communication among dispatchers, drivers, and passengers. This continuous cycle involves dispatchers providing trip details to drivers, drivers communicating journey timelines to passengers, and passengers offering feedback and making requests to dispatchers.
In some cases, providers also need to communicate with the healthcare facilities they are driving to so that the facility can prepare for the patient’s arrival.
NEMT software facilitates this multidirectional communication network so that every participant is on the same page. Ideally all participants of the NEMT chain like passengers, drivers, dispatcher and healthcare facilities should have their own independent yet interconnected portals to monitor and influence the transportation process. Therefore, besides the routing, scheduling and billing functionality, the best providers of NEMT software would offer:
- A facility portal with access to the passenger location, ETA and no-show warnings.
- A dedicated white-label passenger app with driver’s location, in-app messaging and real-time notifications.
Does NEMT Software Use Custom Reporting Tools?
Yes. There is a wealth of data to manage when running an NEMT business, including trip logs, driver performance, and fuel consumption rates. An NEMT program tracks all these data points and more to create detailed performance reports on various aspects of your business. Studying these reports allows you to derive insights that will increase efficiency in the related processes.
Since NEMT software is a centralized data management solution, you can tailor your reports according to your business needs. You can track customized metrics, such as patient satisfaction rates, on-time trips, and revenue per trip, to analyze your performance and find areas for improvement.
Can You Customize Features and Metrics of NEMT Software?
Yes. NEMT software is a flexible and comprehensive solution that can be scaled and customized to meet your company’s needs. NEMT software developers can tailor a solution according to your company’s unique business processes. For example, if you are facing issues with having claims approved, you can explore the possibility of adding automatic trip attestation and automated billing features.
You can also take advantage of NEMT software’s detailed reporting features to employ analytics that help you streamline processes. Tracking data points such as patient satisfaction scores and trip efficiency metrics enables you to gain a deeper understanding and more insight into your company’s performance.
Does NEMT Software Meet the Standards of Security, Privacy, and HIPAA Compliance?
Yes. NEMT companies and their tech solutions must meet the standards set by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). These regulations ensure the confidentiality of patients’ medical data, and medical transport providers must ensure the security of such sensitive information. RouteGenie NEMT software has multiple features to protect patient privacy, including secure data storage and transfer and data encryption.
It’s important to remember that while NEMT software is designed to be HIPAA-compliant, transportation providers need to take additional steps to fully comply with all the regulations. This includes conducting regular compliance audits and employee training to ensure HIPAA compliance in all third-party integrations.
Web-Hosted vs. Locally Hosted: Which Type of NEMT Software Is Better for Your Business?
It’s quite evident that NEMT software can be highly beneficial for your business by boosting efficiency in critical areas. Selecting the right NEMT software is an important business decision that can influence your company’s performance in the future.
There are two main types of NEMT platforms available for companies to choose from: web-hosted (also called cloud-based) and locally hosted (also called on-premise) software. Let’s examine both types and identify their strengths and weaknesses.
Web-Hosted Software: Advantages and Disadvantages
Increasingly, NEMT providers are opting for cloud-based software solutions. These web-hosted digital products have several attributes that make them appealing to providers, such as:
- They can be accessed from anywhere as long there is an internet connection.
- Their updates and patches are automated and managed by the software developer.
- They cost less upfront than locally hosted software as there is no need for physical servers.
Cloud-based software is undeniably convenient for NEMT providers. However, certain facets of this type of software might turn away providers looking for a software solution, such as:
- Heavy dependence on internet connectivity (Some web-hosted NEMT software also have an offline mode).
- Privacy concerns connected to software developer’s security protocols.
- Recurring costs due to subscription fees.
Despite this, the advantages of web-hosted software far outweigh the disadvantages, making cloud-based NEMT software an attractive option for many companies, particularly those without the budget or technological framework to support locally hosted software.
Locally Hosted Software: Advantages and Disadvantages
On-premise NEMT software involves installing and hosting a software solution on your company’s in-house servers. Before web-hosted NEMT platforms exploded in popularity, locally hosted software was the standard.
The advantages of this type of software include:
- More controlled data security and stricter protocols.
- Ability to customize software features according to your use case.
- Ability to use all features and functions even without an internet connection.
Locally hosted software isn’t as popular as it used to be, possibly because only large companies and enterprise organizations have the resources and framework to support it. Small- and mid-size carriers need an alternative because on-premise NEMT software has the following drawbacks:
- It is expensive to set up.
- Requires a high level of technical expertise among IT support staff.
- Software updates and security patches need to be manually installed.
Between the two types of NEMT software, locally hosted options represent an older way of doing things. Web-hosted software is more flexible, costs less to set up, and doesn’t require as much effort to remain operational.
If you’re considering implementing an NEMT software solution, thoroughly evaluate both options and see which one will be the best fit for your company.
Conclusion
Today, there are many dedicated software options available to give your business a competitive edge. RouteGenie, a comprehensive NEMT software, can add value to every key area of your business.
Implementing software like RouteGenie leads to positive outcomes like:
- Benefits passengers by making the booking experience and journey more streamlined.
- Benefits dispatchers by increasing efficiency and productivity.
- Benefit drivers with route optimization strategies and efficient trip scheduling.
- Benefits NEMT business overall by raising passenger satisfaction, streamlining processes, boosting revenue.
As an NEMT provider, it’s time to future proof your business by choosing the right software solution. If you want to see how a complete solution like RouteGenie can benefit your NEMT business, visit the website and book your demo today!
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