Door-to-Door Van Service for Outpatient Services

An Effective Practice

Description

Transportation barriers affect attendance and adherence rates to outpatient services for rural, elderly, and disabled patients. To reduce this barrier, a private practice physical therapy (PT) clinic began offering a door-to-door van service at no cost to patients.

Goal / Mission

To increase attendance rates and decrease transportation-related barriers to outpatient PT clinic patients.

Impact

When patients were offered a van service, attendance rates increased at the physical therapy clinic.

Results / Accomplishments

Over the course of three years, the van serviced 83 riders per month in 2010 to 205 riders per month in 2013. Overall clinic attendance rate increased from 80.1% to 84.1% after implementation of the service. Following introduction of the van service, 48% of patients using the van, compared to 25% of clinic patients overall, were uninsured or insured by Medicaid.

About this Promising Practice

Primary Contact
Allyn M. Bove
University of Pittsburgh
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Department of Physical Therapy
412-624-9255
ams453@pitt.edu
https://www.shrs.pitt.edu/people/allyn-bove
Topics
Health / Health Care Access & Quality
Community / Transportation
Date of implementation
2010
Location
Aliquippa, PA
For more details
Target Audience
Older Adults