Family Care Inc. and Health Share of Oregon, the Portland Tri-County area coordinated care organizations (CCO), have issued a letter of intent to engage Access2Care to broker Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) services for Oregon Health Plan (OHP) members in the region.
The selection was made after a three-month process in which five organizations submitted proposals to provide services to over 340,000 OHP members served by the two CCOs. After narrowing the selection process to two finalists, the announcement was made to issue a letter of intent to engage with Access2Care, an affiliated company of American Medical Response, which provides emergency medical transportation in Clackamas and Multnomah Counties and offers non-emergency ambulance transportation in Washington County.
The projected contract is estimated to be valued at approximately $30 million per year and will begin implementation on January 1, 2015. Although the terms of the operational contracts will be comparable, Access2Care will contract separately with each of the two CCOs.
“While there were excellent proposals, we were particularly interested in how Access2Care addressed performance factors, such as reducing wait times and increasing the availability of same day transportation requests, which can significantly impact our members getting to their medical appointments,” said Janet L. Meyer, CEO of Health Share of Oregon. “Their relationship to AMR also provides them with working relationships with the providers, clinics, hospitals and other facilities in the community who serve our members.”
“Access2Care has an impressive track record of success,” notes Jeff Heatherington, President and CEO of FamilyCare, Inc. “The new collaborative business relationship with Access2Care plays a critical role in our efforts to improve our members’ access to and experience of care. This will in turn lower costs and improve the overall health of our diversified communities.”
Steve Murphy, President of Access2Care said, “Access2Care is extremely proud to have been selected as the Non-emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) partner for FamilyCare, Inc. and Health Share of Oregon. We are excited to work with these organizations that are devoted to improving Oregon Health Plan members’ health through their integrated delivery systems and innovative processes. We look forward to partnering with these exceptional organizations in service to their memberships and the regional health care community.”
NEMT assists clients going to and from routine or scheduled Oregon Health Plan medical services. It does not include emergency ambulance transportation to a hospital. Typically, transportation options are provided through a variety of methods, including wheelchair vans, taxis, stretcher vans or cars, bus passes and tickets, secured transportation, grouped or shared-ride vehicles and volunteer-owned and operated vehicles. Because of the diversity and the vulnerability of the populations the CCOs serve, the brokerage must also maintain a culturally aware and sensitive working environment.
On average there are more than 800,000 rides per year requested by the OHP member population in the Tri-County area. The brokerage of these services must have the ability to service a medically and culturally diverse community within a large and varied geographical region covering more than 3,000 square miles.
Access2Care is an industry leading managed transportation services program designed for health plans, healthcare facilities and government entities. They have seven call centers nationwide, including one in Boise, Idaho that will service the Tri-County area. Local administrative offices will be co-located with AMR in Portland.
Access2Care and American Medical Response are part of Envision Healthcare, a leading provider of emergency medical services in the United States.
