Every week, LogistiCare sends approximately 100 field monitors onto the streets of our cities and counties to ensure the job is being done right and strict quality measures are being met by our drivers and transportation providers. They battle hot sun, rain, snow, and sleet every day to help ensure our members receive the best care and proper protocols like wheelchair restraints are being used correctly. They observe patient drop offs at facilities, make sure the member is ok and that the vehicle is credentialed, clean and safe. They ensure the vehicles and drivers who are supposed to be transporting a specific member, in fact are. It’s like having a “secret shopper” ensuring our strict quality measures are being met. They are all LogistiCare employees and not only are they trained by us, but in many markets they have also undergone the same training that we require of our drivers. They know exactly what to look for when inspecting each vehicle.
The Making of a Better Process
Historically, field monitors had to use paper based forms to record their inspections. There was a lag time between when they received the trip information or vehicle information, when they did the inspection, and when the information was input into our system. With so many steps, it was a process prone to error. As a result, LogistiCare started defining a better methodology for maintaining annual inspections and spot checks in the field. Our tech teams collaborated with field monitors to gain as much process efficiency as possible during development.
Now, the data is electronically transferred to the operations centers from the field via a tablet-based application. The process is very efficient – leading to a higher quality experience. If we find someone is out of compliance, we can immediately reassign trips to other providers. VIN numbers automatically populate to ease data entry. Analytics will play an important role.
Why Field Monitoring is Mission Critical
One of the most beneficial things about this initiative is the market knowledge that results. All of the information goes into a central database that LogistiCare can query and then analyze. We can provide transportation providers with data on how well they are servicing our members. We can also give our clients hard data about the quality experience their members received during transport. A large portion of the transportation providers in our network are small businesses, and may have a more difficult time having an independent assessment of their services. We want to be able to measure the quality of the drivers in ways that will help individual accounts, while pushing an entire industry forward. Field monitors play a big role in quality care and this tablet-based technology makes their job much easier, improving accuracy and increasing the safety of our transportation provider fleets. These ongoing audits hold transportation providers accountable. Keeping them “on their toes” provides us, our clients and our members with the assurance of the quality that they expect.