How NEMT Reduces Hospital Readmissions: A Guide for Healthcare Organizations

NEMT reduces hospital readmissions by eliminating the transportation barrier that prevents patients from attending post-discharge follow-up appointments, medication management visits, dialysis treatments, and physical therapy sessions. When patients consistently make these appointments, care teams can monitor recovery, adjust medications, detect complications early, and maintain treatment protocols that prevent the deterioration that leads to readmission. Studies consistently show that patients with reliable transportation to follow-up care are significantly less likely to be readmitted within 30 days.

The CMS Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) is a Medicare value-based purchasing program that reduces payments to hospitals with excess readmissions for certain conditions including heart failure, pneumonia, COPD, hip and knee replacements, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, and acute myocardial infarction. Hospitals with readmission rates above the national average face payment reductions of up to 3% of their total Medicare base operating DRG payments. The program incentivizes hospitals to invest in discharge planning, care transitions, and post-discharge support including transportation to follow-up appointments.

The cost of a single hospital readmission averages between $15,000 and $25,000, while a typical NEMT trip costs between $50 and $150 depending on vehicle type and distance. Preventing even a small number of readmissions through reliable post-discharge transportation generates significant net savings. Beyond direct readmission costs, hospitals also avoid HRRP payment penalties of up to 3% of Medicare reimbursements. A mid-size hospital preventing 20-50 readmissions per year through an NEMT partnership could realize hundreds of thousands of dollars in combined savings from avoided readmission costs and preserved Medicare payments.

Yes. Dream Care Rides offers same-day discharge transportation with narrow pickup windows to minimize patient wait times and free hospital beds faster. For planned discharges, rides can be pre-scheduled 24-48 hours in advance. For same-day or unplanned discharges, facility staff contact our dedicated dispatch line and a vehicle is dispatched based on the patient's mobility needs and destination. We maintain fleet capacity specifically to accommodate the unpredictable nature of hospital discharge timing.

NEMT directly supports several HEDIS measures by ensuring members attend required appointments. Key measures impacted include follow-up after hospitalization (FUH), follow-up after emergency department visit (FUM), medication management for people with asthma, comprehensive diabetes care, and controlling high blood pressure. When MA plan members have reliable transportation, appointment adherence rates improve, which in turn improves the plan's HEDIS performance. Improved HEDIS scores contribute to higher CMS Star Ratings, which affect plan reimbursement rates and member enrollment.

Patients who benefit most from NEMT after discharge include elderly patients who no longer drive, patients with mobility limitations requiring wheelchair or stretcher transport, patients recovering from surgery with driving restrictions, dialysis patients needing recurring transport three times per week, patients without family or social support networks to provide rides, patients in rural or underserved areas with limited public transit, low-income patients who cannot afford rideshare services, and patients with cognitive impairments who cannot navigate public transportation independently.

Skilled nursing facilities use NEMT to ensure residents attend all off-site medical appointments including dialysis treatments, specialist consultations, therapy sessions, and diagnostic procedures. SNFs set up standing order transportation schedules that mirror each resident's recurring treatment calendar. When a resident misses dialysis, a wound care appointment, or a cardiology follow-up, the risk of complications and subsequent hospital readmission increases substantially. NEMT partnerships give SNFs a reliable, credentialed transportation solution with vehicles equipped for residents who use wheelchairs, stretchers, or require bariatric accommodations.

Hospitals should evaluate NEMT providers on several criteria: in-house fleet operations versus brokered service for consistency, fleet diversity including wheelchair, stretcher, and bariatric vehicles, documented on-time performance rates, HIPAA compliance and willingness to execute a BAA, driver credentialing standards including background checks and drug testing, real-time GPS tracking and automated status notifications, facility-level reporting capabilities, dedicated account management, MCO and Medicaid broker credentialing, and capacity to handle same-day discharge requests with narrow pickup windows.

Yes. Dream Care Rides is credentialed with major managed care organizations and health plans serving Illinois and Indiana. We work directly with Medicare Advantage plans that offer NEMT as a supplemental benefit, and with Medicaid managed care plans that include non-emergency medical transportation coverage. Our team handles the authorization and billing processes required by each plan, reducing administrative burden on facilities and ensuring patients receive covered transportation to their appointments.

Contact Dream Care Rides at (708) 505-6994 or visit dreamcarerides.com/facilities to start the partnership process. Our facility team conducts an intake assessment covering your patient volume, transportation types needed, scheduling requirements, and reporting needs. We design a custom transportation plan with transparent pricing, dedicated account management, and agreed-upon service level standards. Most facility accounts are operational within one to two weeks of agreement execution. We also execute Business Associate Agreements and complete any credentialing requirements specific to your organization.