Boston-based startup Circulation Health, a ride-ordering exchange that coordinates medical transportation logistics using Lyft and other transportation partners, is partnering with Buoy Health, also based in Boston, to integrate their platforms to provide patients with an end-to-end healthcare experience.
The partnership – which will roll out before the end of 2018 – will enable Buoy’s patients to book reliable on-demand transportation, powered by Circulation, to recommended care. Buoy Health offers an AI-powered health assistant and symptom checker. The platform is available either online or through an app and sources from over 18,000 clinical papers, covering 5 million patients and spanning 1,700 conditions.
“Ultimately, it comes down to providing a better experience to individuals who need timely access to care” Robin Heffernan, CEO & co-founder of Circulation, said. “And since every patient journey starts with a ride, it makes so much sense to give Buoy users easy access to convenient, reliable transportation to their local pharmacies, primary care clinics, or urgent care centers.”
When patients access the Buoy Health platform, they are prompted through a series of questions to enter their symptoms in detail. Buoy will then analyze the consumer’s inputs in real-time and point the customer to a recommended course of treatment. To help ensure the patient takes the next step in treatment, Buoy will then enable users to book on-demand rides through Circulation’s ride-ordering platform — either using their own funds or through insurance if transportation is a covered benefit.
Andrew Le, CEO and co-founder of Buoy Health, said in a statement: “By integrating Circulation’s transportation exchange into our platform, we will now be able to remove a major barrier to care by giving anyone who visits Buoy access to convenient and reliable transport.”
According to a national study published by The National Academy of Sciences, each year, 3.6 million Americans miss out on care because they face transportation barriers, which in turn creates untold costs to the U.S. healthcare system. “Circulation’s partnership with Buoy Health is on the cutting edge of a larger shift in value-based care by seeking to address the social determinants of health that occur outside of a typical care setting — such as access to transportation,” the companies said in a joint press release.
Buoy currently sees over two million consumers a month and Circulation is currently being used by more than 1,500 medical facilities in more than 40 states.
