Feb. 8, 2019
Dive Brief:
- With more flexible benefits in Medicare Advantage
plans, rideshare platform Lyft has upgraded its Concierge product to
better support the needs of medical facilities and patients.
- The upgrade, announced Thursday,
comes as Lyft is expanding its collaborations with Blue Cross Blue Shield
Institute and LogistiCare to bring provide nonemergency medical
transportation to MA plan members.
- Currently,
about a third of Lyft riders use the app for medical appointments,
according to the company.
Dive Insight:
With CMS recently announcing even more opportunities for
MA plans to provide nonmedical supplemental benefits to patients with chronic
illnesses, Lyft is likely just one of many companies hoping to capitalize.
Following publication of the 2018 rule allowing MA
plans to include such benefits, Lyft was enthusiastic about the
opportunity. "This new flexibility will allow us to partner even more
dynamically with MA plans to not just help seniors suffering from chronic
health conditions get to their health appointments, but to more broadly
leverage our platform to remove transportation barriers and encourage healthy
and active living," Lauren Belive, director of federal government
relations at Lyft, told Healthcare Dive via
email in June.
Still, studies are mixed on the impact of ridesharing
services on patient health outcomes. In a study last year in
JAMA Internal Medicine, just 26% of patients who were offered ridesharing
services if their prescheduled appointment fell through took up the offer. More
striking was lack of improvement in missed appointment rates — 36.5% in the
intervention group versus 36.7% in the controls.
More partnerships could help by providing more data on who
uses rideshares for healthcare and what models work best.
Starting later this year, Lyft will expand its collaboration
with BCBS Institute to include members of some BCBS MA plans, offering rides to
doctor appointments, pharmacies and fitness centers. The company is also
expanding its partnership with LogistiCare to provide similar services for
certain Humana MA plans.
The Concierge upgrade enables riders to make automated calls
without smartphones, a nod to seniors who may be less likely to own the
devices. Other changes include upfront pricing for comparative shopping and
greater transparency and a new user-friendly format for use on tablets, the
company said.
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