Acuity Link: Digital transformation of a ‘non-emergency medical transportation’ platform

The Challenge

Identify all possible use cases for a diverse group of users at medical facilities on one end of the care process and transport providers on the other. All the applications were required to work seamlessly and efficiently so that the Acuity Link platform can successfully support all users.

The Solution

The platform consists of three web applications and two mobile applications (each on iOS and Android) stored in GitHub. Docker was used for storing container images.

BTC scoped the requirements for all five applications in detail. This helped the client prioritize the ‘Minimum Viable Product’ scope required to go to market.

BTC designed the platform to be scalable and extensible to support all current and future integration points. This ensured that the technological diversity required to develop the applications did not hinder the intended process flow.

A very innovative feature that BTC supported involved integrating the platform with Lyft for providing transport to patients who did not require an ambulance.

We later integrated the platform with transfer centers and other legacy applications such as CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) systems that transport providers were using.

BTC developed the entire suite of applications as desired and incremental integrations with external systems as part of the platform’s evolution.

The Outcome

Acuity Link can now assist hospitals in reducing the time to discharge a patient by aligning the arrival of the NEMT with the time of the discharge.

Clinicians can monitor and communicate in real-time directly with ambulance crews in the field and their dispatchers, thus saving valuable time.

Acuity Link eliminates the paper (medical necessity form), removing bottlenecks, reducing patient wait times, freeing up clinical and administrative resources, and providing a digital authorization trail.

The platform provides critical information via an analytics dashboard to better manage their patient discharge workflows.

A brief note on applications that together formed a comprehensive platform built by BTC

Web-based application for the Acuity Link administrators to:

• Onboard healthcare facilities and medical transport providers onto the platform.
• Assist other users in their day-to-day operations.
• Manage enterprise-level configurations.

Web-based and mobile applications for healthcare facilities to:

• Create transport requests for transferring patients to other facilities or send them home after getting discharged.
• Specify the patient’s details, needs, and the type of transport required (essential life support, critical care, wheelchair transport).
• Plan discharge/transfer of patients more efficiently by identifying ideal time slots based on vehicle availability.
• Negotiate transport timings with the transport providers.

Web-based application for medical transport providers to:

• Configure their transport capacities and allot vehicles to different facilities.
• Manage their vehicle inventory and assignments of crew members.
• Negotiate with medical facilities regarding transport timings.
• View useful dashboards and information on received transport requests.

Mobile application for crew members (drivers, paramedics) to:

• Accept and fulfill transport requests while on the go in a vehicle.
• Navigate to the patient’s location via the app’s integration with Google Maps.
• Auto-update status of transport requests using the geofencing features.

[Photo by Denniz Futalan from Pexels]