If someone’s ride was late or a member or location can’t be found, the communication to resolve the mix-up had to route across several people. In the past LogistiCare had to rely on a channel of communication between us and a transportation provider, who then in turn had to speak with the driver directly before we could help sort it out with our members. It’s frustrating when we don’t have immediate, accurate information when a member or health care provider calls. Often it was no one’s fault. The information wasn’t known, it changed because of traffic patterns, or a miscommunication had occurred. Sometimes that made it hard to help. If we knew where that vehicle was and could track it on a map, well that’s a game changer. We are happy to report that pilots for vehicle location tracking are happening now in a few states with other states scheduled to follow over the course of 2016.
What’s unique about our implementation?
It’s a flexible, cost effective solution for our transportation providers
Unlike many of our competitors who force transportation providers to purchase or use one solution, we are designing multiple ways for transportation providers to interact with our systems. If they already invested in a GPS tracking solution, we’ll interface with it. If they don’t have one, we’ll provide them with our solution and lease them the equipment. If they have sufficient tablets and smart phones, we can even work with their existing equipment by using a free mobile application we are now piloting. All these options give us the capability to track individual vehicles without a large investment from our providers.
There’s less work for our transportation providers too
All these technology options have live routing and tracking capabilities. LogistiCare will know exactly where drivers are in real-time without having to contact our transportation providers. This technology will allow LogistiCare to answer most member questions immediately without having to talk to someone from the transportation provider’s office; eliminating a time consuming and redundant step in the process. The drivers will have trips and navigation routes automatically downloaded into their mobile devices at the beginning of the day. If a new pick up is assigned the system alerts the driver instantaneously.
The driver will also receive route navigation guidance, time stamp capabilities, and the ability to capture member signatures.—that means we will know what member is in what vehicle at all times. After the rider has been dropped off, the trip status is set to complete and the trip data and electronic signature images are automatically uploaded into the system. The transportation provider no longer has to manually enter trip data or deal with paper trip logs. They simply review the trip data in the system, enter the billed amounts, and submit the batch of trips for payment. Reporting of trips thus becomes an automated process, speeding up our ability to pay.
Big benefits for members
Transportation providers aren’t the only ones that stand to win. Members will reap benefits from the new system as well. Because LogistiCare can see the location of our fleet of vehicles, everything just got amazingly transparent. A driver can’t say he or she was somewhere when they weren’t and a member can’t blame a driver for not being there when they were. LogistiCare will be able to help sort out problem areas for members and drivers much faster. Because navigation is included, members are apt to get to their destinations faster as well. For Will-Call and return trips, LogistiCare will be able to identify drivers available for pickups more efficiently as well, which means less time waiting on rides at doctor’s offices or clinics.
This new system will help us make better informed decisions based on accurate information. We are very excited to bring this next generation level of service to our members, clients, and providers over the course of 2016.
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