The costs of transporting end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients to dialysis centers are high and snowballing. Recent studies reveal that substantial cost savings could be achieved if medically appropriate transport covered by Medicare was made available. Notably, a Medical Transportation Access Coalition (MTAC) survey also confirms that Medicaid non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) can be a cheaper public-private option that helps millions of vulnerable patients requiring transportation to access timely healthcare.
NEMT will save Medicaid, and ultimately taxpayers, over $40 million per month for every 30,000 beneficiaries receiving common and expensive treatments such as kidney dialysis, diabetic wound care, and substance abuse disorders.
How Medicaid NEMT Is Cutting Costs
There is no doubt, without NEMT, hospitalization rates would be high, and emergency dialysis treatments would be quite costly. Let’s look at how NEMT keeps the cost of transportation for patients requiring dialysis treatments low.
Reducing Emergency Healthcare Expenses
During the study, 58% of the beneficiaries who participated in the survey confirmed that they would not keep their medical appointments without access to NEMT. Even more shocking was the revelation that 10% of the respondents would probably die without access to NEMT. The MTAC study reveals non-emergency medical transportation saves Medicaid $3,423 monthly for each person with kidney failure receiving dialysis, or $41,076 per-beneficiary, per-year.
Improving Health
It was further revealed the beneficiaries who use NEMT services for scheduled medical appointments like dialysis sessions and wound treatments tend to enjoy better health than those who don’t maintain regular appointments. The patients using NEMT also incurred lower long-term costs than those who don’t keep regular appointments. Ideally, the monthly cost savings per Medicaid beneficiary was more than $1,300 across the three groups of vulnerable patients.
More Sessions, Fewer Complications
The Medicaid beneficiaries with kidney failure also enjoyed a significant cost avoidance that enables them to access more dialysis treatments than they would without NEMT. The survey respondents reported attending about 12 dialysis procedures monthly using NEMT. Without NEMT, they claimed they would only manage to attend 4.1 treatments a month.
Cathay Express Transportation: Your Premier Medical Transportation Partner
Cathay Express Transportation is a leading provider of door-to-door wheelchair-accessible transportation for the seniors and disabled. With our ‘Door through Door’ service, a competent driver will come to your home, assist you with your wheelchair, and take you into our vehicle, then drive you to your destination and back. If you need transportation to a doctor, hospital, clinic, nursing facility, airport, party, or any other establishment, we will take you there safely! For more information about our ambulette services, contact us today.