Homeward Bound With Uber Health and MetroAtlanta Ambulance Service

MetroAtlanta Ambulance Services

MetroAtlanta Ambulance Service (MAAS) is one of the largest privately owned ambulance companies in the state of Georgia. The company – which has contracts with 28 major hospitals, and deploys a fleet of over 135 ambulances and support vehicles –  provides both emergency and non-emergency medical transportation throughout Bartow, Cobb, and Paulding counties. 

The challenge of returning home

Despite having a large fleet of ambulances and support vehicles on the road, MAAS noticed high wait times for non-emergency medical transportation – the kind of assistance that would help patients return home after a trip to the hospital. MAAS was consistently having to prioritize patients with emergent care needs, leaving non-emergency patients waiting longer and longer for rides. As a result, MAAS began looking for a new way to amplify their existing transportation services to and from hospitals in 2017, working to meet all patient needs in the most efficient way possible.  

Leveraging Uber Health to streamline transportation

MAAS turned to Uber Health to provide better and more cost effective options for non-emergency medical transportation for patients who needed to return home after hospital visits, especially during non-peak hours. Uber Health offers a HIPAA-secure solution that helps healthcare organizations coordinate non-emergency rides for patients.

Most often, a patient’s own nurse contacts MAAS directly to coordinate a ride for the patient’s discharge. MAAS is then able to quickly enter all the necessary patient and pick-up information into Uber Health’s easy to use dashboard, while hospital staff help gets the patient to the specified Uber waiting area. The hospital staff and patient are armed with all the relevant driver information by MAAS to make the connection seamless. 

“With Uber Health, MetroAtlanta has access to readily available transportation options that we didn’t have available before,” said Sharon Murphy, a Marketing & Business Development Specialist at MetroAtlanta, “We have been able to expand our transportation options for non-emergency patients who need transit to and from appointments – from behavioral health visits to ongoing treatments like dialysis. This has been especially useful for those returning home from the ER at times when our emergency vehicles are already in use.”

By complementing their own large fleet in the Atlanta metro area with Uber’s platform, MAAS is able to provide both emergency and non-emergency medical transportation services to patients in need around the clock. 

A more efficient approach to patient transport

Today, MAAS is able to strengthen their own patient transportation system with support from Uber Health. Pre-COVID, the partnership with Uber Health enabled MAAS to coordinate around 2,000 patient rides a month – at peak times – for their partner hospitals. 

Over the last 3 years, Uber Health’s solutions have helped MAAS build a non-emergency medical transportation program that is more cost-effective and streamlined. For MetroAtlanta and Georgia hospitals this means more time and dedicated resources for emergencies. For patients – it’s less time spent waiting and more time at home with loved ones. 

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