Ever since the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) implemented MapQuest for Business APIs in 2013, the company has saved a quarter million dollars and streamlined their more than 2,500 therapists’ daily routines. In addition, time and mileage is now reported automatically for each of their therapists, eliminating the hassle and inaccuracy of manual reporting.
Objectives:
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Automate the mapping to and from thousands of patient addresses
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Automate the manual process of routing thousands of patient visits nationwide
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Streamline the logging of patient visit travel time and distance
On the Road for Recovery
Recovery from autism is at the center of CARD’s mission, sending thousands of therapists on the road every day to visit with individuals of all ages who are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
With nearly 140 offices nationwide and 150 therapists in each office, scheduling hundreds of daily routes required one full time employee per office – nearly 140 individuals manually mapping out daily routes. Additionally, therapists submit their individual travel time and mileage for reimbursement, which was also a manual process that was subject to potential inaccuracies.
Powered by MapQuest for Business
In 2013, CARD selected MapQuest for Business to provide APIs for several key capabilities for CARD’s therapists:
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Mapping to and from patient addresses using MapQuest Geocoding API
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Forward geocoding patient addresses using MapQuest Geocoding API
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Routing guidance and time and distance logging via MapQuest Directions API
At the time, CARD wanted only these capabilities, without displaying the results on a map. Alva Powell is CARD’s senior technical architect. “I did a lot of research on this to begin with, and MapQuest was the only company that could provide this functionality,” said Powell. “Other vendors offered routing APIs, but required us to display the map with the route. MapQuest said, ‘no problem,’ and gave us exactly what we wanted.” CARD relies upon MapQuest APIs to route its thousands of therapists’ daily patient visits, and automatically log their travel time and mileage for reimbursement.
“The MapQuest APIs were super simple and quick to implement. It’s been a huge win for us.”
– Senior Technical Architect at CARD, Powell
A Huge Win
Since implementing MapQuest’s APIs, CARD has saved an estimated $250,000 by automating what was once very manual, labor intensive work. “It’s been a huge win for us,” said Powell. “The MapQuest APIs were super simple and quick to implement. Any time we need anything, MapQuest responds very quickly. If someone else had my same requirements I’d tell them to go straight to MapQuest. We’ve been very happy with them.”
