Building Back Trust
The Ride to Care program has had several companies manage the program over the past several years. CareOregon is aware that members have had a wide range of experiences using the Ride to Care program in the past, including many challenges. CareOregon is dedicated to working with the Ride to Care partner organizations, members, transportation providers and Health Share to improve experiences and services with the program while being a good steward of state and federal Medicaid funds. We continue to seek and identify ways we can improve the Ride to Care program. We’ve established an ongoing program evaluation that surveys members, drivers, and transportation providers about their experience with the Ride to Care program. This will form a baseline to focus our efforts. Find out more about the program evaluation below.
Program Evaluation
Ride to Care conducted a program evaluation on the NEMT program for the first time since the change in oversight in 2020. This evaluation began in 2021, and results will be shared in 2022.
A program evaluation is an effective way to involve stakeholders in the process of program development and improvements through input, such as the surveys provided. Since this is the first NEMT program evaluation completed, it will be used as a baseline to make changes to the program and follow the progress in identifying areas of success and improvement.
When areas of success are identified, further investments can be put towards expanding those programs and services. Areas for improvement show what can be minimized or removed. One way to find out what is working and what is not is through an evaluation in which members, drivers and providers share their thoughts and feedback with us.
In this program evaluation, the stakeholders were members, drivers and providers. All Customer Service representatives were provided with FAQ guide sheets in case members had any questions, including requesting a copy of the survey in another language.
The more stakeholders who participate in the survey, the broader picture we will have of what the Ride to Care program needs. Future program evaluations will be conducted to analyze the effectiveness of any changes made to the program.
Ride to Care NEMT Program Evaluation Findings
CareOregon, in partnership with Ride to Care, sends out a yearly satisfaction survey asking stakeholders about their experiences with utilizing transportation services through, driving for, and operating for Ride to Care. The evaluation questions and what we heard from members, drivers, and providers from the surveys and focus groups are included in the Ride to Care NEMT Evaluation Snapshot Report below. Feedback from the program evaluation is used to make improvements to the NEMT program.