Partnerships with two leading rideshare companies will expand patient access to care for populations with medical transportation challenges.
Rideshare is continuing to make waves in the healthcare industry, with both Lyft and Uber Health unveiling key partnerships that aim to drive patient access to care.
At this year’s HLTH Conference, Uber Health announced a partnership with EHR vendor giant Cerner Corporation that will make it easier for providers to interface with the Uber Health platform right from the EHR.
“Joining forces with Cerner marks a new chapter for Uber Health and our mission to provide accessible, efficient transportation for patients and caregivers,” said Dan Trigub, head of Uber Health. “Reliable transportation to and from appointments can help reduce operating costs, patient no-show rates and help improve patient outcomes. Our goal is to simplify the way healthcare providers can access transportation options — and our work together will accomplish just that.”
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This partnership will allow medical providers to request an Uber Health ride for their patients directly within the EHR. Patient information, including name, address, and phone number, will auto populate from the EHR into the Uber Health platform, making the process for booking the ride easier for both patients and providers.
The partnership will also integrate with Uber Health’s interfaces serving patients who do not use a smartphone, the companies said.
“Our work with Uber Health will give health systems more resources to address some of their patient’s challenges in accessing the healthcare they need,” said John Gresham, senior vice president of Health Networks at Cerner. “Building on more than 40 years of healthcare expertise, Cerner is taking on some of the industry’s biggest challenges to help improve access to healthcare, create better health outcomes and lower costs for patients and health systems.”
Uber Health and Cerner said providers will be able to use the rideshare app within the EHR soon, noting that the integration will enable provider to improve care for the nearly 200 million patients who have a Cerner medical record.
Lyft is also getting in on the rideshare game, recently announcing new partnerships with Medicaid agencies in Georgia, Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia, and Missouri. Through these partnerships, state Medicaid agencies will recognize Lyft ridesharing services as a covered non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) benefit.
Access to care is seriously limited by a patient’s ability to get a ride to a medical appointment, Lyft acknowledged. Patients who have physical or cognitive impairments, do not own a car, or who cannot navigate public transportation often go without necessary medical treatment, putting them at risk for a costly acute health episode down the line.
Providing rideshare services as a covered benefit is a key strategy for driving care management, according to Todd Richardson, director of MO HealthNet.
“Improving access to quality healthcare for Missouri citizens is crucial,” Richardson said in a statement. “We understand the benefits of rideshare in reducing barriers to care, and we support making it easier for Medicaid patients to access Lyft in Missouri.”
In Tennessee, the pilot partnership with Lyft will work to address the social determinants of health, which experts say have an adverse impact on the health of populations.
“The entire healthcare community, especially Medicaid programs, are recognizing the outsized impact that social determinants of health have on impacting the well-being and health outcomes of individuals,” said Dr. Victor Wu, chief medical officer at TennCare.
“Lyft has partnered with two of TennCare’s Managed Care Organizations to pilot a scalable, patient-centered, and seamless solution to address hard-to-solve transportation needs. We look forward to seeing the positive impact the Lyft partnership will have on our members and supporting more opportunities to address transportation needs in the future.”
These partnerships will also leverage deep connections between Lyft and NEMT brokers, like LogistiCare, which has had a relationship with Lyft since 2017. In Georgia, for example, covered health benefits will expand to NEMT brokers, meaning patients will have access to Lyft medical transportation through that broker.
“Since 2017, we’ve partnered with Lyft to enhance our national transportation network and increase access to care for our patients,” said Effie Carlson, EVP and Chief Growth Officer at LogistiCare. “This year, we’re excited to build upon this relationship for our Medicaid beneficiaries in select states. The ability to amplify our collective impact by providing flexible options for so many will continue to be meaningful in addressing the basic barriers to positive health outcomes.”
These partnerships come as millions of patients report transportation issues as a key barrier to healthcare access. As of 2017, medical transportation was the leading cause of patient no-shows, according to data from the American Hospital Association (AHA).
Nearly 3.6 million individuals did not access medical care because they did not have a ride. Four percent of all children currently miss a medical appointment because of transportation barriers.
These latest dealings from Uber Health and Lyft aim to chip away at those barriers, working to connect patients with affordable rides to their medical providers.
Source: Patient Engagement Hit