The rideshare
company will make its services available to Medicare Advantage members through
partnerships with BCBS Institute and LogistiCare.
By Sara Heath
February 08, 2019 - Rideshare
company Lyft is working to close medical transportation gaps and improve
patient access to care by revamping some of its services to better serve senior
patient populations, the company said in a recent announcement.
The ride hailing
behemoth will be increasing its partnership with the Blue Cross Blue Shield
Institute (BCBS Institute), a subsidiary of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
(BCBSA), to allow Medicare Advantage (MA) plans offer Lyft as a medical
transportation option.
This program
expansion builds on a previous partnership with BCBS Institute initially forged
in 2017. The Lyft/BCBS Institute partnership originally planned to provide
rideshare assistance to the health plan’s commercial insurance members.
But new flexibilities
in MA have sparked progress in the Lyft/BCBS Institute partnership. BCBS
Institute will now help senior patients covered by MA plans gain reliable
transportation to their medical appointments.
“Lyft has been an
incredible partner as we’ve worked to leverage their platform to deliver
innovative services that improve the health and satisfaction of our members,
while reducing healthcare costs,” said Trent Haywood, MD, president, BCBS
Institute. “We're eager to expand our already successful partnership with Lyft
from our commercial plans to some of our BCBS MA plans this summer - providing
even more members with improved access to services that will help improve their
health and quality of life.”
Lyft will also be
expanding non-emergency
medical transportation (NEMT) services to MA members for other
health plans. Through its partnership with LogistiCare, an NEMT broker, Lyft
will be available to Humana MA beneficiaries. Members can access rides to
medical appointments, pharmacies, and fitness centers, Lyft said.
This aligns with
Humana’s efforts to promote better patient health, according to Alan Wheatley,
president of Humana’s Retail Segment.
“At Humana, we
understand that health is about more than what happens in the doctor's office -
many other social factors, like transportation, can have a direct impact on
health and well-being,” Wheatley explained. “Our goal in working with
LogistiCare and Lyft is to innovate in ways that translate directly into
improved health and a better healthcare experience for the Medicare Advantage
members we serve.”
In addition to
expanding its presence in the MA market, Lyft will be making it easier for
senior patients to interface with the technology. Through Lyft’s Concierge
tool, which allows organizations’ NEMT managers book rides for patients, the
tool can now send outbound calls to non-smartphones.
The new technology
will recognize when a phone number is a landline and will generate an audio
message to be sent via telephone call.
This will make it
easier for seniors, nearly half of whom do not own a smartphone, use the Lyft
and Concierge platforms.
This news comes
following Lyft’s Economic Impact report, which revealed the mark the company
has made on the healthcare industry.
Currently, 3.6
million patients face medical transportation barriers, Lyft reported.
Between long travel distances, limited access to a vehicle, limited access to a
driver’s license, or limited physical capacity to drive, patients are
struggling to get to their medical appointments, often to the detriment of
their own health.
Three-quarters of
Lyft riders have said the ridesharing tool has made their medical appointments
less of a hassle. Overall, one-third of users said they have used Lyft to get
to a medical appointment.
Lyft and other
rideshare options like it do have their limitations.
For example, Lyft is best for non-emergency medical situations, such as going
to a pre-scheduled follow-up appointment or primary care appointment.
Ridesharing is not
useful for patients experiencing a serious medical emergency, such as a heart
attack or life-threatening injury, Lyft warns.
Additionally,
ridesharing services are limited in providing medical transportation to
patients with unique medical needs. An Uber or Lyft cannot usually fill care
access gaps for patients in wheelchairs or traveling with other bulky medical
equipment, for example.
But it does hold
promise in converting patients who do not usually visit their primary care or
chronic care providers into more activated patients. When patients see a
simpler opportunity to access their treatment, they are more likely to adhere
to visit schedules.
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