The Health and Cost Impacts of Transporting Patients to Their Appointments

A recent study on the health care system estimated $150 billion is wasted each year because patients can’t get transportation to their preventative care appointments. This is the problem addressed by Kinetik, a company that is modernizing non-emergency transportation (NEMT) for health care.

In this interview, we hear about the far-reaching consequences of poor transportation coordination and the benefits of modern RCM in transportation from Elizabeth Jepsen, Chief of Staff at Kinetik, and Denise Kajanoff, Senior Vice President of Payer Strategy and Growth.  One study showed that missed appointments is costing the healthcare system more than $150 Billion a year in the US.  NEMT can help with this problem.

Currently, because of antiquated medical billing, people have to call three days in advance to get a ride to dialysis or other preventative care. Many transportation companies try to run their operations off of Excel spread sheets, which are inadequate for tracking purposes, often prone to error and create delays in payments to transport providers. To deal with a no-show, the patient has to call the health provider or health plan, who in turn calls a broker who calls the transportation provider.

In short, there is limited transparency, inability to track a ride, and often difficult coordination.  The situation in health care contrasts strongly with popular ride-sharing services, where you can usually get a driver within minutes and a relative can trace your route to make sure you arrived at your destination on time.

Jepsen and Kajanoff also discuss the prevalence of fraud in our interview. Kinetik’s integrated system verifies that the ride took place and allows transportation companies to be paid more promptly, which in turn keeps them in business and strengthens the transportation system.

Kajanoff shared a study that revealed ~21% of adults don’t go to their appointments for lack of transportation. Jepsen also shares how the high infant mortality in New Mexico is related to a mothers’ inability to get access to prenatal care, and at times to the hospital. Watch the video for a full view of the impact of Kinetik’s RCM in health care transportation.

Learn more about Kinetik: https://kinetik.care/

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