A grant from the National Institutes of Health will help ride-booking platform Roundtrip research the effects of transportation availability on opioid dependent patients.
Roundtrip, founded in Richmond in 2016, went through Lighthouse Labs' incubator before opening a headquarters in Philadelphia a year later. Senior Account Executive Vinay Nagaraj said the company also maintains operations in Richmond.
Its platform works with hospitals, health systems and transit authorities to coordinate rides for non-emergency patients.
Earlier this month, Roundtrip received a $252,000 Small Business Innovation Research Phase I grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which is part of the NIH.
Nagaraj said the grant allows Roundtrip, in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania, Lyft and Contra Costa Health Services, to evaluate the impact of its holistic transportation coordination platform, predominantly leveraging Lyft’s rideshare service, on appointment show rates and patient satisfaction for patients with opioid use disorder.
"We were super excited to get this underway. We’ve known that it’s not easy to secure federal funding, so it's a huge milestone," he said. "Transportation is one of those social deterrents to seeking medical care, specifically within opioid use."
Nagaraj said the study will last one year, and Roundtrip will be working with Contra Consta's OUD patient population to not only transport them to and from doctor's appointments, but also to pick up medication or transport to group meetings. He said they'll be able to measure appointment show rates and other long-term outcomes.
"The study is looking at a provision of transportation, of course, but also engaging with the patient," he said. "A big piece of the puzzle is making sure patients are aware the transportation options are available.
Roundtrip will use a 24/7 navigation center to monitor each ride, ensuring drivers and patients are connecting. This, he said, will keep the risk of a patient missing a ride low.
Overall, Nagaraj said this study is just the beginning of Roundtrip's continued efforts to assist patients and medical professionals.
"It will really validate our model because transportation is a very crowded space. You see Lyft and Uber getting into health care, but we’ve really made something unique," he said. "This grant is a stepping stone to working with other academic medical centers.
"On a broader scale, we want to have follow-up studies," Nagaraj continued. "There’s always an invitation to apply for future phases to show this can be replicated and showcase the importance of our mission."
