JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Every year, as many as 3.6 million people miss medical appointments due to an inability to arrange reliable transportation. One Call Care Management (“One Call”), a leading provider of workers’ compensation solutions, has pioneered solutions in healthcare transportation. As such, Joseph McCullough, senior vice president of transportation and language, was asked to deliver a session on “A New Risk Equation: Ridesharing + Technology = Transformation in Transportation” at the annual Risk Management Society (RIMS) Conference.
“Missed medical appointments cost the U.S. healthcare system more than $150 billion per year, and in workers’ compensation, these delays can have serious consequences for the health and recovery of injured workers,” said McCullough. “Reliable transportation is critical to keeping treatment on track, but it’s often overlooked. When an injured worker misses an appointment, there’s a cascading effect that leads to higher costs and extended time away from work. However, by leveraging ridesharing innovations, we can minimize late pick-ups and appointment no-shows, which keeps the injured worker on course for recovery and return to work.”
A vast majority of transportation within workers’ compensation still relies on an antiquated approach that utilizes independent drivers and commercial services, like taxis. This outdated method requires an inordinate amount of oversight and may still result in missed connections and a need to re-book transportation and medical appointments.
One Call is a forward-thinking company that has embraced ridesharing and integrated its technology with services like Lyft. This connection enables adjusters, coordinators and injured workers to have more flexibility, convenience and transparency into ride requests.
During the RIMS presentation, McCullough reviewed both the risks and rewards of ridesharing.
“The most important objective is to keep injured workers safe, so credentialing must be in place to properly vet drivers and their vehicles to ensure they meet quality and safety standards,” McCullough stated. “In some cases, injured workers may require specialized transportation to meet unique medical needs. In terms of benefits, ridesharing technology enables active ride management. This is a game-changer in ensuring a higher rate of fulfillment. All parties stay informed on what’s happening during the ride request. And, through driver ratings, we also have insights into the injured worker’s experience.”
McCullough shared results from a recent pilot program with Lyft, in which One Call achieved a reduction in wait times by 30 percent—with injured workers waiting for as little as five to nine minutes for a ride—and improving the ability to fulfill rush requests by 64 percent.
About One Call Care Management
One Call is the nation’s leading provider of specialized solutions to the workers’ compensation industry. One Call has six locations across the United States with its corporate headquarters located in Jacksonville, Florida. One Call’s solutions enable faster, more efficient and more cost-effective claims resolution with a focus on injured workers’ needs across the continuum of care. One Call provides reliable, consistent connections to care with expertise in high-end diagnostics, physical therapy and transportation services, post-discharge home care and durable medical equipment, dental and doctor specialty services, complex care management, and the language services required for today’s multicultural workforce. For more information, visit www.onecallcm.com. Follow One Call on Twitter at @onecallcm.
