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Getting From Here to There: Evaluating West Virginia's Rural Nonemergency Medical Transportation Program
Author(s) -
Bellamy Gail R.,
Stone Kendall,
Richardson Sally K.,
Goldsteen Raymond L.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
the journal of rural health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.439
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1748-0361
pISSN - 0890-765X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1748-0361.2003.tb01060.x
Subject(s) - reimbursement , medicaid , west virginia , salary , business , sustainability , population , health care , transport engineering , finance , economic growth , medicine , economics , engineering , environmental health , geography , market economy , ecology , archaeology , biology
With funding from the 21st Century Challenge Fund, the West Virginia Rural Health Access Program created Transportation for Health, a demonstration project for rural nonemergency medical transportation. The project was implemented in 3 sites around the state, building on existing transportation systems — specifically, a multicounty transit authority, a joint senior center/transit system, and a senior services center. An eualuatim of the project was undertaken to answer 3 major questions: (1) Did the project reach the population of people who need transportation assistance? (2) Are users of the transportation project satisfied with the service? (3) Is the program sustainable? Preliminary results from survey data indicate that the answers to questions 1 and 2 are affirmative. A break‐even analysis of all 3 sites begins to identify programmatic and policy issues that challenge the likelihood of financial sustainability, including salary expenses, unreimbursed mileage, and reliance on Medicaid reimbursement .