Thursday, June 27, 2019

Lyft Hails New Ride Share Market As Medicaid Provider


Bruce Japsen Senior Contributor Jun 26, 2019, 09:00am
Lyft has landed a new relationship with Arizona’s Medicaid program as a “provider,” opening the door to potentially millions of customers in the state and across the country for the ride-sharing industry.
Lyft Wednesday said it’s now “an enrolled Medicaid provider in Arizona” after the state changed rules effective May 1 to allow “transportation network companies (also known as ‘rideshare’ companies) to register as non-emergency medical transportation providers,” the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System said earlier this year.
Lyft’s Arizona announcement offers a glimpse into the expanding and lucrative opportunities for ride sharing companies including rival Uber as well as other startups and new entrants like Ford Motor Company’s GoRide Health invest into expansion for non-emergency medical transportation services. Lyft said it hopes to negotiate similar arrangements in other states and their Medicaid programs for poor Americans.
“Too many Americans are confronted with barriers when they need to see a physician, and without adequate access, this causes missed appointments, delayed diagnoses and often worsening of existing health conditions,” said Lyft’s vice president of healthcare Megan Callahan, who was hired last year to lead the company’s growing healthcare businesses.
“But states across the country, beginning with Arizona, are paving the way by providing ride-sharing as a transportation solution in their Medicaid programs,” Callhan said. “By modernizing the approach and improving access, we have the potential to impact nearly 65 million people — or one-fifth of the US population.”
As health insurers move away from fee-for-service medicine to value-based care and population health models that make sure patients are getting quality care in the right place and at the right time, ride-sharing companies say they can have a key role. Medicaid patients suffer multiple chronic conditions and are known to have difficulty accessing medical care services so insurers and Medicaid programs see ride-share as a potential solution to making sure they get to their doctor’s appointments.
The Medicaid market remains a growing opportunity as more states weigh expanding such coverage for poor Americans under the Affordable Care Act. Arizona is among the 36 states plus the District of Columbia that adopted Medicaid expansion under the ACA with the remaining 14 states yet to adopt and some of them like North Carolina are making progress amid a changing political environment.
“As more states look to update their Medicaid programs, Lyft’s national scale and network make us an effective and powerful partner,” Lyft said Wednesday. “Over the past three years, we have forged partnerships with leading companies in the healthcare ecosystem to provide affordable and reliable transportation for patients who need to get to and from medical appointments, the pharmacy, and fitness centers. Because of our experience and relationships with top providers across the country, including the Medical Transportation Broker of Arizona (MTBA), and Access2Care in Florida, we can immediately drive cost-savings, improve access to healthcare, and increase passenger satisfaction.”

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