MTAC Study Finds 58% of Members Couldn’t Access Healthcare without NEMT

The best healthcare services in the world can’t help you if you have no way to get there. That’s the driving force behind MTM’s non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) services, which connect more than eleven million members to healthcare every year. MTM is a proud founding member of the Medical Transportation Access Coalition (MTAC), formed in 2017 to educate federal and state policymakers about the benefits of NEMT. With some states already limiting NEMT availability through waivers, and others set to follow suit, MTAC recently examined the value of this important benefit through an ROI study. No study prior to this has ever used Medicaid claims data and surveyed actual NEMT users to determine the impact of NEMT on the health plan’s bottom line and on members’ overall health and wellbeing.

Three conditions and corresponding treatments were evaluated through the study: Dialysis for Kidney Disease, Wound Care for Diabetic Wounds, and Treatment for Substance Use Disorder (SUD).

“Missed medical appointments lessen patient adherence with clinical guidelines, which leads to complications and expensive medical services. The value of NEMT is shown most clearly in the costs avoided from increased expensive medical services and lower treatment adherence for Dialysis for Kidney Disease and Wound Care for Diabetic Wounds, demonstrating that NEMT pays for itself as part of a care management strategy for people with certain chronic conditions,” the study found.

The results of the study speak for themselves:

• 58% of members surveyed reported that they would not be able to make any medical appointments without NEMT.
• 10% of members surveyed reported that they would die or probably die when asked what would happen if they did not have the NEMT services they currently receive.
• Total ROI for all three conditions studied per 30,000 members (10,000 per condition) per month: $39,553,373.

If you’re interested in reading more about the value of NEMT, click here to read a full summary of the study. You can also click here to view a presentation that outlines the entire study, its methodology, and findings.