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Composition and Functioning of Medical Transportation Software

The advent of ride-hailing startups has unlocked a range of business models with same fundamental principles. One notable model reflects in dispatch software for medical transportation. The demand for such services is drastically rising with projections of further inclination in the upcoming decade. Although there are multiple factors, yet the most significant one is the growing median age indicating increasing senior citizen percentage.

How does medical transportation dispatch software work?

The functioning of dispatcher software and its associated apps is identical to Uber and other ride-hailing services in most part. Following is a sequence of events while working with NEMT dispatcher platform of CabStartup.

Placing a request

Patient or a caretaker can place a request through either a smartphone app or a phone call. CabStartup recommends facilitating the customers with an app because call may lead to misunderstanding. Using an app, the patient can choose the service of one’s choice. Unlike a phone call, a customer can enter specifications within the app.

The specs may include date, time, and location of pickup, and medical coverage details. You may also provide customers with the ability to choose between emergency or NEMT. In essence, you can add as many details in the customer app as you wish.

Medical transportation scheduling

The admin panel alarms the administrators as soon as the customer places a request. If the customer intends to acquire emergency transportation, software displays the most suitable vehicle for dispatch. The suitability depends on factors including distance of vehicle from patient, and number of requests addressed by each vehicle in the vicinity.

The latter factor is significant because overburdening a driver with back-to-back tasks may lead to exhaustion and fatigue. In the NEMT case, the software is more flexible in selecting the driver. Automation of task scheduler ensures that the system does most of the job so that admins can perform other tasks.

Payment Verification

Some medical transportation service providers require making partial payment during scheduling. In traditional NEMT business models, this requirement is a massive blocker in dispatching timely services to patients. The customers have to submit details for a credit card or another payment method over the phone.

Using an app enables the customers to skip entering the details because apps provide the facility of in-app wallet. Thus, customers can pay before or after acquiring services. It is very important that each of the tasks from placing a request to payment verification and vehicle dispatch should occur seamlessly. As a benchmark, this entire process should not take more than two minutes.

Dispatching the Ride for Pickup

A NEMT vehicle dispatched to pick up patient has the facility to get optimized route plan as soon as it receives the patient’s location. The customer app from CabStartup allows real-time tracking of dispatcher van.

You can also facilitate the customers to schedule round trips. Paratransit dispatch software systems provide this option almost all the time. They should also be able to change their booking details at a later stage. Besides, the software should automatically update the status of the task from pending to in-progress, and finally, to complete.

 

What components of dispatch bot software are crucial?

Medical transportation companies may choose from a range of existing features for software. You may also incorporate unique features to ensure that your business stands out from others. Regardless of what you may choose, following are components are inevitable.

Distinctive NEMT Software Interfaces

Four types of users interact with the entire NEMT software ecosystem.

  1. Administrators view reports and analytics to highlight the loopholes. They also identify the areas where a business makes significant progress.
  2. Dispatch staff is responsible for addressing the requests from customers. They ensure that the system dispatches the appropriate vehicle as per customer’s specifications.
  3. Patients schedule service through their smartphone with few clicks. The in-app wallet reduces scheduling time while ride tracking facility ensures providing estimated arrival time to customers.
  4. Drivers complete the tasks of pickup and dropping off the patients at directed locations. It is notable that medical transportation rarely follows the gig economy model. Mostly, there is a dedicated staff including drivers and patient caretakers.

Each of the users should have separate interfaces of software. For instance, Driver and customers have dedicated apps while administrators and dispatch staff have laptop-based software systems.

NEMT Task Automation

Any medical transportation software would serve no purpose if it does not ensure automation. On the service seekers’ end, the app should find and schedule the most suitable service. It should also off-burden customers with the task of entering credit card and coverage info repeatedly.

CabStartup ensures that you can avoid this repetition by allowing dedicated profiles for customers. The customers need to share details only once after downloading the app.

Similarly, dispatch staff should also be free from manually finding the appropriate vehicle. Administrators can view individual performance of vehicle staff as well as collective performance of business.

Analytics Dashboard

Admins should also be able to make informed decisions by utilizing the results of predictive data analytics. The analytics dashboard provides graphs and charts with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Such dashboards are identical to management and executive information systems in enterprises.

Cloud-based Platform for Dispatch Software Users’ Connectivity

Although four fundamentally different users interact with medical transportation dispatch software, yet there must be a mechanism which binds them together. It is essential to ensure the unhindered flow of events.

For instance, when a customer schedules service from patient app, the ride specific details also get updated in dispatcher panel. Furthermore, driver app finds the specifications as well when a task is dispatched to driver.

Cloud-based platforms ensure that the underlying communication and data sharing platform of each user remains same. These platforms are also vital because they provide excessive data security and storage mechanism.

 

NEMT software pricing

The use cases and a subset of features in non-emergency medical transportation dispatch software might differ from ride-hailing apps. However, the pricing structure at Cabstartup remains the same. This uniformity follows from the fact that you can build over our platform and rebrand it as your own.

You can start testing our platform today and continue to evaluate it for the next 15 days. Start your free trial right now.

By Shahrukh Satti 0 Comments

Market and Innovations in Paratransit Dispatch Software Systems

Amidst various businesses in the ride-hailing industry growing at light pace, paratransit is often overlooked by entrepreneurs. However, the market analysis and regulations from governments indicate that investors are missing a massive opportunity. An investment in paratransit dispatch software would generate a significant sum along with a potential of expansion to global scale.

Although paratransit is set to flourish in the entire world, yet the US carries one of the highest success probabilities. Both aging populations and governments steps toward easing paratransit businesses are reasons.

Following is a collection of some of the factors which are supplementing the success of investment in paratransit.

Paratransit Dispatch Service – Market Analysis

Despite a relatively lesser number of vehicles, the count of trips crossed 223 million by 2013 as reported by APTA. Six years down the road, analysts predict the count close to 360 million with a sizable increase in requests.

For the same reason, two-thirds of national and private transit departments provide paratransit facility –unlike six years back. Besides, many local governments are collaborating with independent contractors to ensure the facility. This way, the entrepreneurs are often able to get sponsorship from authorities.

Unlike Uber and other similar services serving as replacement of traditional taxi, regulators are highly flexible in case of paratransit. They are enabling businesses to start and operate seamlessly. Their aim is to facilitate one of the fastest growing demographic groups.

As stated earlier, the aging population is the primary cause of rising paratransit need. Since the turn of the century, the median age has attained a drastic growth rate. Since 1970, the median age in the US grew by 10 percentage points to reach the current 38%.

Besides, Western Europe and Canada have even higher average ages than the US. Thus, the demand for paratransit will only grow – and that too with substantial pace – in the upcoming years.

It is notable that APTA statistics are paratransit-specific. They do not consider on-demand medical services, though that industry is also growing by leaps and bounds. Paratransit strictly falls under non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT).

Innovations in Paratransit Scheduling and Dispatching Software

Although paratransit dispatch software systems are innovative in themselves, yet research is underway to ensure further innovation in the system. Software companies and auto manufacturers are working in their respective domains to introduce wonderful features. Following innovations are most notable.

The top auto manufacturers are working on autonomous paratransit vehicles. This trend is gaining momentum because some of the ride-hailing industry leaders are shifting toward self-driving cars from human-controlled ones.

In on-demand taxi domain, many companies worldwide including Waymo, ZMP, Tesla, and Ford are aiming to launch full-scale self-driving rides. In fact, Way and ZMP have already introduced such services in a region with small radius.

Although driverless vehicles are unavailable for public transit and paratransit industries, yet Ford is planning for it big time. The company will launch a shared mobility system they call transportation mobility cloud which will connect all means of transportation. In the midst of these developments, the manufacturers are also paying strong emphasis on autonomy in paratransit vehicles.

Besides, the manufacturers are also searching for the most suitable spacing arrangement so as to promote social interaction.

Features of Paratransit Dispatch Software for Small Business

Like on-demand ride-hailing systems, some of the features are must for paratransit as well to ensure smooth-running of system. The current state of competition also suggests having these must-have features including, but not limited to real-time tracking, route optimization, user profiles, and cloud-based platforms.

However, you can have as many functions as you would like in the system on top of the essential ones. Following innovative features will make sure that sure paratransit system is the best taxi dispatch software system.

Monitoring systems in Vehicles

Paratransit is reserved for either the seniors or the ones with a disability. These individuals require constant monitoring to ensure that they remain well during the ride. This monitoring does not only involve sharing video streaming of the rider but several other measures as well.

IoT devices make things a lot easier for the monitoring and surveillance staff. They can keep the paratransit passenger under observation while sitting back at their workplaces. Moreover, they can also connect IoT devices to measure the functioning of passenger’s body. For instance, the admins can assess the pulse rate and blood pressure of traveling patients remotely.

Hyperlocal Paratransit

Paratransit businesses require their vehicles to operate within a radius to avoid excessive costs. For instance, if the radius length is set to half of a square mile, the passengers lying only in this radius would be able to book a seat. Such a hyperlocal paratransit facility does not only save costs but time as well.

AARP reports that paratransit passengers pay $2.26 on average. This amount is reasonable considering the level of facilitation as compared to traditional transit systems.

Get Underway Right Now

Paratransit industry is no less than a hidden gem. Entrepreneurs are not exploring this option owing to the hype around on-demand taxi industry. While many other industries are volatile to changing trends, paratransit is here to stay for decades.

With CabStartup, you do not need to build paratransit dispatch software from scratch. Instead, you can acquire our cloud-based platform with a one-time payment. Either way, you can rebrand the system to launch your startup.

Get our free ride scheduling software for trial right now.

By Shahrukh Satti 0 Comments
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