Case Study: How One of California’s Largest Healthcare Providers Saved $22m Annually in Time
In 2017, one of California’s largest non-profit healthcare providers partnered with VectorCare to reimagine their NEMT (Non-Emergency Medical Transport) ordering workflow.
In order to schedule a simple patient transport between facilities, healthcare workers spent up to half an hour calling local service providers, sending faxes, and documenting transports on antiquated, spreadsheet-like software. After a transport was scheduled, there was little to no transparency: When exactly was the patient picked up? Were there any incidents during the ride? How long did the trip take? With onerous, complex systems of phone calls and faxes passed back and forth between hospital staff and service providers, human error and wasted time was an inescapable part of transport scheduling.
To streamline their transportation ordering system, this hospital system partnered with VectorCare. They brought their entire transportation ordering workflow online, as well as onboarded a network of local, credentialed transportation service providers who worked in all of their areas of service.
Additionally, this hospital system had complex transportation requirements which varied by service level: after all, an ALS (advanced life support) ride has a very different level of patient care than a wheelchair/gurney van transport. They were able to leverage VectorCare to create dozens of distinct service schemas that populate based on the type of service level selected. Medical necessity triggers were implemented to ensure that providers gave patients the exact level of care that they required.
After one year of using VectorCare, this organization was able to grow its transportation operations by 40% with no additional costs. Nurses and scheduling staff were now able to request a service in as little as five minutes, where it previously had taken 30 minutes.
"Saving 15+ minutes per request translates to more reliable and timely patient services...this system helps us grow operations by providing more services in the same amount of time without increasing staff." -Continuum of Care Manager, CA Hospital System
In 2019, this healthcare system created over 900k service requests on the VectorCare platform. Taking the average RN hourly salary into account, the scheduling time VectorCare saved them was worth more than $22.2 million. This calculation is based on scheduling time only, and does not include the bed turnaround time which also became more efficient, and dramatically increased their return on investment.
By partnering with VectorCare to re-imaging their patient care logistics, this California-based healthcare system with over 12 million members was able to expand operations, increase operational transparency, and skyrocket scheduling efficiency while improving their bottom-line.
Want to read more from the Patient Care Logistics Journal? Check out our guide on reimagining EMS & NEMT after COVID-19.