Ridesharing Technology Eases Transportation, Continuity of Care Burden in Workers’ Comp

Digital devices and mobile applications are breathing new life into traditional workers’ compensation services—this was a key takeaway from the session, “Ridesharing Technology: Transforming Transportation in Workers’ Compensation,” presented at the 2017 California Workers’ Compensation & Risk Conference in Dana Point, California.

“Until recently, the workers’ compensation industry relied on an antiquated approach to coordinating transportation, which required a lot of manual oversight,” said Joseph McCullough, senior vice president of product at One Call Care Management. “Not surprisingly, this model resulted in a significant number of missed medical appointments, which can delay and even derail an injured worker’s progress toward recovery with significant and costly consequences.”

Within the past few years, ridesharing has become widely accepted with rapid adoption in healthcare and workers’ compensation. “Integrating ridesharing with a secure digital platform and proper credentialing has been the key to making this model safe and appropriate for the workers’ compensation market. With these critical components in place, One Call has experienced a 50 percent increase in daily ridesharing trips over the last seven months,” noted McCullough.

Digitization of non-emergency medical transportation, as well as other additional services, is a radical shift for the industry. As a forward-thinking player in this space, One Call has leveraged technology and formed strategic partnerships to meet the evolving needs of payers and injured workers. Today, transportation network companies (TNCs), like Lyft, use ridesharing to provide full digital capabilities, complete transparency into ride coordination and an overall streamlined process.

“Going from passive to active ride management is a transformative experience for everyone involved, and the industry will reap significant benefits including a reduction in failed and late pick-ups, as well as minimizing the need to reschedule medical appointments and transportation. Clinical, claims and return-to-work outcomes improve as patients attend appointments with greater consistency and reliability,” said McCullough.

As with any industry disruption, there have been fears over exposure and liability. Some initially considered ridesharing to be risky because of a misconception, largely perpetuated by traditional vendors like taxi companies, that the industry was not being properly regulated. In truth, 48 states have passed TNC-related regulations for driver and vehicle safety, licensing, background checks and liability insurance and these regulations are often stricter and more onerous than those regulating traditional taxi companies.

“This demonstrates that safety standards and regulations do exist,” said McCullough. “Beyond these requirements, patient experience is also enhanced. Injured workers have improved visibility into the details of their rides, and they can rate their satisfaction with drivers and their ride experience.”

Clients also want deeper and broader insights into their ancillary services. “We strive to provide prescriptive as well as actionable intelligence,” added McCullough. “We’ve made strategic investments in our technology platform and tools, which have advanced our analytic capabilities. We’re well positioned to do more with data—in a secure environment. Our clients can draw powerful conclusions from various data points, especially as they begin to develop and integrate their own mobile apps.”

Using this same type of modern digital platform, it’s possible to streamline the delivery of other accompanying services, such as web-based video translation services. “Similar to transportation, interpretation and language services are vital to communicating and facilitating the treatment plan with injured workers. Our goal is to eliminate any barriers so they receive the care they need to recover and return to work,” concluded McCullough.

Source: One Call Care Management