Transportation services are crucial in the healthcare industry to ensure the safe transfer of patients from one location to another. The healthcare transport team connects various components of the healthcare system that contribute to the diagnosis, treatment, research, and test of diseases. The healthcare transportation services market is expected to reach $93 billion by 2021. More than 3.6 million Americans miss at least one medical trip a year because of lack of proper medical transportation. These missed appointments cost $150 billion for the health systems.
A large contributor of rapid growth in the sector is the growth in the geriatric population and the need for additional transportation solutions catered to the demographic. Moreover, given that while transportation is typically only a small share of a hospital or health system’s budget, it touches and impacts nearly the entire system. By improving logistics associated with getting patients to the hospitals more efficiently and cost-effectively, these systems could drive significant savings. For non-patient transportation, there is also an increasing emphasis on quick transportation of samples and species for testing and increased focus on reducing logistics cost.
Various healthcare transportation services provide support to patients in several ways. They provide mobility and medical transaction services from one location to another. Emergency medical transportation services provide urgent transportation for patients with critical or life-threatening symptoms. Often the emergency medical transportation services are equipped with additional medical aid and monitoring during the trip to ensure the safety of the patient. On the other hand, non-emergency medical transportation services are also required for unfavorable Medicaid receivers, such as old aged and disabled people who are not able to access healthcare transportation services. Hospital segment is the dominant end-user of transportation services, accounting for 46% of the global healthcare transaction services. Other end-users include private paying customers, medical centers, nursing care facilities and airport shuttles. With the growing number of hospitals and increasing need for cost reductions at these facilities, there will continue to be a focus on optimizing the transportation services.
Some hospitals and healthcare providers have started partnering with ridesharing providers such as Uber to provide healthcare transportation services. The benefit of utilizing such services is the flexibility of leveraging a group of part-time drivers that can boost their income when there is demand but can also shrink if there is no demand. At the same time, these services do not require significant upfront scheduling 24–48 hours in advance of the trip and would make sure patients could get to their appointments on time, often at a fraction of costs of riding an ambulance. Uber has also partnered with certain health systems that allow caregivers to schedule rides for patients. Both Lyft and Uber have also started offering rides to Medicaid beneficiaries in some states. However, these types of ridesharing transportations have extremely limited capabilities for people who need assistance walking, are wheelchair bound, or have any other physical or developmental special needs. Specialized medical transportation providers often require advance booking 24–48 hours in advance, don’t go into homes, are often overly expensive, and offer a low-quality service.
Kli Capital portfolio company, Life Ride, is a specialized on-demand transportation service dedicated to medical and assisted transportation. Their specialized vehicles are designed with the elderly and people with disabilities in mind. Depending on the clients’ needs, a Life Ride trained and vetted driver-provider arrives to patients in a wheelchair accessible van, or an ambulance. The company’s certified driver-providers also have the ability to pick up customers with mobility challenges by coming inside the home, lift you into the vehicle and assist you through the door. This also allows these customers to leverage the transportation services for activities outside of doctor’s visits such as grocery store pickup or social gatherings. The company also provides services for those with developmental disabilities and gives them the freedom to use transportation services that caters to their needs.
Life Ride was founded by Dov Brafman, who has significant experience building brands in the consumer electronic space and has a deep understanding of optimizing customer experiences. The company is currently providing services in New Jersey, and has also recently received a license to operate ambulances in the state. The company is focused on building the perfect fleet that is catered to its targeted customer base. Currently, the company has been working together with mid-sized facilities to create a referral network for patient families and colleagues. Life Ride has developed their entire technology in-house which allows the company to offer the latest features including vehicle routing, trip booking, tools that help with accuracy in terms of timing of rides, and data validation, amongst others. The company’s system manages the complex relationships with multiple parties including nursing homes, hospitals, and payers, which also creates an opportunity for the company to continue scaling efficiently.
During Covid-19, Life Ride saw a surge in usage as the elderly patients and people with disabilities become even more focused on using services that are catered specifically to their needs. Life Ride is focused on supporting the community building of its serviceable population. Not only providing rides for medical needs, Life Ride provides freedom to many individuals with additional needs to non-medical destinations such as funerals and weddings. The Kli Capital team is excited for the future growth of Life Ride which will continue to provide essential services to the population in need.
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