"Night and weekend transportation is limited. What took between 4 to 8 hours for a cab to pick up a patient has been reduced to 10-20 minutes at night and 6-10 minutes during the day using the Ride Health platform to request a ride. This improves ED bed availability, patient satisfaction and improves morale for my night and weekend ED staff."

Overview

Virtua Health is Southern New Jersey’s largest health system comprised of five hospitals and over 250 locations. Through their comprehensive care network, Virtua averages more than one million patient encounters each year. As a not-for-profit Virtua is committed to the well-being of the community and provides innovative outreach programs that address social challenges affecting health.

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Problem

In 2016, Virtua Health conducted a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and identified transportation as a barrier to care for their patient population, specifically those affected by social determinants of health.

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Missed appointments ultimately resulted in:

- Increased costs

- Disruption of care and provider-patient relationships

- Reduced use of primary care services

- Increased emergency department visits

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Solution

In February 2018, Virtua Health contracted with Ride Health to launch a system-wide transportation assistance program to coordinate courtesy transportation for patients. Unlike their former taxi paper-voucher program, the platform enabled the Virtua team to have access to monitoring metrics, including geospatial data, driver/vehicle identification to ensure patient safety and compliance with the Office of Inspector General’sTransportation Safe Harbor Regulations.

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Results

Since launch, Virtua has seen an immediate impact towards their goal of removing transportation barriers and linking patients to the right care, at the right place, at the right time. Preliminary results include:

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Operational Efficiencies and Improved Patient Satisfaction

- 75% reduction in no-shows across oncology appointments

- Improved bed-turnover rate for inpatient and ED discharges

- 20% improvement in ED throughput

- Decreased wait times

- Streamlined transportation scheduling workflow

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Reduced Costs and Significant Return on Investment

- Reduction in primary care no-shows resulting in 7-fold return

- Average cost per ride reduced by greater than 50% ($42 to $20)

- Urban locations averaging $9 per ride