System and methods for providing transportation services in health care facilities

1. A system for providing transportation services in a health care facility, comprising:

a communication network;

a transportation services management system configurable to store and retrieve information relating to dispatches of transportation services jobs at one or more health care facilities;

one or more dispatcher devices, wherein each of at least one of the one or more dispatcher devices is configurable to:

exchange with the transportation services management system, over the communication network, information relating to the transportation services jobs; and

display information to a transportation dispatch manager; and

two or more transport responder mobile devices, wherein each of at least one of the two or more transport responder mobile devices is configurable to:

exchange with the transportation services management system, over the communication network, relating to the transportation services jobs; and

display information to a transport responder,

wherein the transportation services management system is configured to:

send, to two or more candidate responders, via a plurality of the transport responder mobile devices, over the communication network, a notification about a transportation service job that needs to be performed;

display, on at least two of the transport responder mobile devices, the notification;

receive, by way of at least one of the transport responder mobile devices, a self-assignment to the transportation services job by at least one of the candidate responders;

receive, by way of at least one other of the transport responder mobile devices, a response from each of at least one other of the candidate transport responders relating to the transportation services job;

assign, by way of at least one of the transport responder mobile devices, based at least in part on the responses received from the at least one other transport responder mobile devices and pre-determined criteria for the number of responders for the transportation services job including a maximum cut-off, one or more additional candidate transport responders to perform the transportation services job; and

notify, by way of at least one of the transport responder mobile devices, at least one other of the candidate responders that the transportation services job has been assigned to a different responder.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the dispatch device is a mobile device.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the dispatcher devices is configurable to display one or more input screens for receiving transportation service requests.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the dispatcher devices is configurable to display one or more input screens for receiving transportation service requests, wherein at least a first one of the input screens is configurable to receive patient transportation requests, wherein at least a second one of the input screens is configurable to receive equipment transportation requests.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the dispatcher devices is configured to simultaneously display to a dispatcher:

a request panel comprising a list of one or more transportation service requests; and

a responder panel comprising a list of one or more responders.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the transportation service request panel comprises a list of transportation service requests.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein responder panel is sorted based on one or more predetermined sorting criteria.

8. The system of claim 5 , wherein the responder panel comprises availability information for at least one of the responders.

9. The system of claim 5 , wherein the responder panel comprises suitability information for at least one of the responders.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the dispatcher devices is configured to display all of the responders for a shift in a single list.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the dispatcher devices is configured to receive a message entered by a dispatch manager and send the message to one of the responders.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the dispatcher devices is configured to receive a message entered by a dispatch manager and send the message to all of the responders in an organization.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the dispatcher devices is configured to display, over a network, progress information for at least one transportation request to a requester of the request.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein assigning at least one of the candidate responders comprises applying, by the transportation services management system, one or more staffing rules for assigning responders to the transportation services job.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the transportation services job is one of one or more transportation service jobs scheduled and posted in advance.

16. A tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions stored thereon, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to implement:

sending, to two or more candidate responders, via a plurality of the transport responder mobile devices, a notification about a transportation services job that needs to be performed;

displaying, on at least two of the transport responder mobile devices, the notification;

receiving, by way of at least one of the transport responder mobile devices, a self-assignment to the transportation services job by at least one of the candidate responders;

receiving, by way of at least one other of the transport responder mobile devices, a response from each of at least one other of the candidate transport responders relating to the transportation services job;

assigning, by way of at least one of the transport responder mobile devices, based at least in part on the responses received from the at least one other transport responder mobile devices and pre-determined criteria for the number of responders for the transportation services job including a maximum cut-off, one or more additional candidate transport responders to perform the transportation services job; and

notifying, by way of at least one of the transport responder mobile devices, at least one other of the candidate responders that the transportation services job has been assigned to a different responder.