– Ride Health, an NYC-based real-time ride coordination platform that improves access to care and patient’s ride experience has raised $6.2M in seed funding.
– Penn Medicine is already using Ride Health’s ride coordination platform to reduce costs, no-shows, and length-of-stay.
– Ride Health now supports transportation benefit management for health plans in 10 states, optimizing utilization across all transportation modes including mileage reimbursement, public transit, ride-hailing, wheelchair-accessible vehicles, ambulettes, and basic and advanced life support ambulances.
Ride Health, providing smarter transportation for every patient need, announced the closing of a $6.2 million seed funding round led by Activate Venture Partners. The seed round also included participation from Newark Venture Partners, Anthro Ventures, BioAdvance, Leading Edge Ventures and Startup Health. Ride Health will use the seed funding to support its mission of ensuring that every patient, everywhere, has access to the care and resources they need to ensure good health.
Streamline The Patient Ride Coordination Experience
Millions of Americans struggle with transportation barriers that impact their ability to access quality healthcare. Patients and caregivers have difficulty navigating limited transportation options; providers lose billions from no-shows and delayed discharges; care coordinators lack the necessary insights to make informed decisions on transportation options; and insurers pay tens of billions in avoidable healthcare expenses due to lapses in care transitions and access related to transportation.
Founded in 2016, Ride Health developed its real-time transportation coordination platform to overcome the significant challenges posed by traditional non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) systems. Ride Health’s web-based and mobile-enabled platform solves these problems by connecting health plans and healthcare providers to a national network of high-performing transportation providers across all ride types and service levels, from public transit and ride-hailing to wheelchair-accessible vehicles and ambulances.
The platform ingests multiple data points, maps each patient’s needs and preferences, and coordinates an optimal experience for all stakeholders. To ensure high quality rides every time, the platform integrates with dispatch, clinical, and customer relationship management systems to bring real-time visibility, decision support, and data-driven performance management to the NEMT market.
More than a marketplace for rides, Ride Health provides a continuously improving network of transportation providers that compete on service quality and cost. Ride Health tracks ride-level performance data and feedback to produce a rating of both the quality of service and the cost of a ride. This performance management combines with a support platform that triages notifications of potential disruptions to notify a support team that can intervene in real-time. The improved response time from this technology-enabled, human-driven approach to ride support results in improved patient experience and a meaningful reduction in delays and complaints.
“Healthcare organizations are increasingly recognizing the critical role that transportation plays in improving access to care and outcomes, but traditional approaches to medical transportation fail patients and providers at scale on a daily basis,” said Ride Health CEO and Founder Imran Cronk. “Ride Health is built to bring lasting and systemic change to this industry. We are setting the standard for real-time visibility at the intersection of healthcare and transportation, similar to what Flexport has done for global logistics. These efforts are made more challenging because we work with vulnerable patients who need access to life-sustaining care and contend with multiple social factors impacting their health.”
Penn Medicine Leverages Ride Health to Reduce Costs, No-Shows and Length of Stay
For hospitals and health systems, Ride Health helps patients access primary care, adhere to chronic disease treatment plans, receive post-acute follow up care, and get home safely after emergency department visits or hospital admissions. Healthcare providers across the country are using Ride Health to reduce appointment no-shows and late cancellations, improve on-time arrivals, reduce delayed discharges, and improve patient experience and outcomes.
Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine has been using Ride Health to arrange rides for patients from their homes to appointments and from the hospital to home, contributing to reduced costs related to patient transportation in the outpatient setting and an average reduction in length of stay by 6 hours for patients qualifying for service within the inpatient setting.
“It can take three buses and an hour for a patient to travel three miles,” said Roy Rosin, MBA, chief innovation officer of Penn Medicine, which includes the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. “That’s a significant obstacle that many patients, especially those low-income or mobility-challenged patients, can’t overcome. Ride Health lets us order and track vehicles and has delivered a 98% rate of on-time arrivals, which dramatically cuts the high cost of a delay.”
Now Supporting Transportation Benefit Management for Health Plans in 10 States
In addition to its work with health systems, Ride Health now supports transportation benefit management for health plans in 10 states, optimizing utilization across all transportation modes including mileage reimbursement, public transit, ride-hailing, wheelchair-accessible vehicles, ambulettes, and basic and advanced life support ambulances. Ride Health handles roster management and eligibility screening for members, ride scheduling through a self-service Member Portal and managed contact center, and a real-time feedback system designed to reduce complaints and grievances. The resulting improvements in operational performance and available ride data drive lower costs, increased member satisfaction, and greater accountability.
