Keeping costs down while maintaining quality of service is a growing concern for NEMT brokerages nationwide.
One way to significantly reduce costs without sacrificing the quality of service is to offer clients reimbursement if they can drive themselves to their medical appointments. Some clients are not able to drive themselves, but may have a friend or family member willing to drive them.
Why Mileage Reimbursement?
Offering mileage reimbursement supports the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Triple Aim goals of low cost, improved experience of care and improved health.
Low Cost
When individuals drive themselves or their family members to medical appointments, brokerages are able to avoid the higher costs associated with a professional driver and medical vehicle.
Improved Experience of Care
Mileage reimbursement is an easy and convenient option for many clients who have access to their own vehicle or friends or family that have the time and ability to drive them. Adding to client satisfaction, if a friend or family member drives, it may be an opportunity for socialization en-route.
Improved Health
When clients use a reliable mode of transportation that they want to take, they are more likely to attend their medical appointments and enjoy improved health outcomes. Mileage reimbursement also encourages riders to maintain their sense of independence, which may have a positive bearing on their morale and overall health.
Software to Manage Mileage Reimbursement
Many states, brokers and managed care organizations have already recognized the value in offering mileage reimbursement, and are currently administering mileage reimbursement programs. However, managing and processing reimbursements manually is complex and time-consuming as there are many factors that must be accurately tracked and accounted for.
We saw the need for an easier way to administer mileage reimbursements, so in a recent update to our NEMT scheduling software, we added a technical tool that allows users to easily manage all aspects of this process.
The tool can handle reimbursements for a wide variety of scenarios, including the three most common:
- The client drives themselves and receives mileage reimbursement for their trips.
- The client has a friend or family member drive and the friend or family member receives the reimbursement.
- The client has a family member drive them and the client receives the reimbursement.
Key features of the mileage reimbursement tool includes the ability to:
Manage Bookings
- Set mileage reimbursements as the preferred provider
- Verify medical appointments – pre and post
- Attach travel documents
Manage Friends and Family
- Manage and associate drivers; set defaults
- Manage and associate payees; set defaults
- Manage and associate attendants; set defaults
- Track and manage reimbursements
