Mapping out daily routes for clinicians to visit more than three million mental health patients nationwide involved complex APIs and an unsustainable pricing model for Norfolk, Va.-based Welligent. That was until the company’s Founder and CEO Charles Sutelan discovered MapQuest for Business’ geospatial toolset.
Objectives:
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Locate over four million addresses nationwide.
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Display patient locations on a map in the internal Welligent web and mobile apps.
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Provide clinicians with turn-by-turn directions to patient locations.
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Efficiently plan daily, multi-patient routes.
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Estimate travel times to patient locations.
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Identify scalable, affordable geospatial licensing terms.
‘Wherever You Are’
Serving more than 30,000 mental health clinicians nationwide with electronic health records (EHR) and mobile applications, Welligent promises to provide documentation, scheduling, medication history and caseload management access from any desktop, tablet or smartphone, “wherever you are,” as stated on its website. Welligent’s app, bearing the same name as the company, helps clinicians to provide behavioral health counseling and addiction treatment for individuals experiencing disabilities, traumatic brain injury, developmental delay and homelessness.
Outgrowing a Previous Geospatial Provider
In early 2017, Welligent sought to expand its geospatial capabilities by tapping into another provider’s APIs. “We wanted to add some new features into our application including dynamically calculating estimated travel times and displaying turn-by-turn directions for our users,” said Sutelan. “But our previous provider’s APIs were overly complex, and their pricing model simply didn’t work for us.” Sutelan estimated that his annual geospatial licensing fees would increase by four times if he didn’t find another provider.
Peace of Mind with MapQuest for Business
Welligent switched to MapQuest for Business in May 2017. The company now utilizes several MapQuest for Business APIs in its web and mobile apps, including:
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Geocoding API
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Directions API
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Map Tile Plugin for Leaflet
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Traffic API
“Integration was very easy,” said Sutelan. “We made simple revisions to our JavaScript and purged our previous geospatial provider from our system.”
“We’re very pleased with our switch to MapQuest for Business. Our customers clearly like the new capabilities as we’re seeing a vast increase in usage. Overall, we’re very happy with MapQuest for Business.”
– Welligent Co-Founder and CEO, Sutelan
Clinicians use MapQuest within the Welligent EHR system to map the most efficient multi-patient routes throughout their day, displaying patient locations on an internally-viewable map, estimated travel times and turn-by-turn directions. Clinics and community mental health agencies also use MapQuest’s geocoding to verify addresses during the intake process. Thanks to the value, accuracy and ease of use, Sutelan estimates that Welligent users will easily surpass half a million API calls per month in the near term — a 50% increase compared to the company’s initial usage, at a fraction of the cost of Welligent’s previous geospatial services provider.
“We’re very pleased with our switch to MapQuest for Business,” said Sutelan. “Our customers clearly like the new capabilities as we’re seeing a vast increase in usage. Overall, we’re very happy with MapQuest for Business.”
