According to a March 30 press release, Uber Health, Uber’s healthcare arm, announced same-day prescription delivery on its HIPAA-supported, centralized platform. Users, including healthcare providers and health plans, are now able to manage prescription delivery from any pharmacy in their service area through the same platform used for transporting patients.
The press release says that “When Uber Health launched in 2018, the business focused primarily on streamlining non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) options, enabling patient populations—especially underserved and vulnerable communities—to get to and from medical appointments. While transportation is an important social determinant of health, it’s only one piece of the patient care puzzle. For example, a patient discharged from a hospital regularly requires a ride home and to follow-up appointments, as well as new prescriptions. Launching prescription delivery powered by ScriptDrop on the Uber Health platform ensures organizations can fulfill their duty of care obligations to patients by arranging direct, same-day delivery of their prescriptions while tracking when they arrive, enabling them to fully ‘close the loop.’”
“The tracking of care delivery across multiple disciplines promises a paradigm shift in an industry where providers and health plans could lose sight of patients outside of a provider’s office,” the release adds. “Imagine a patient with a chronic kidney disease diagnosis who regularly needs transportation to specialist appointments that result in prescription changes of critical medications. Rather than burdening the patient with homework, Uber Health furthers the patient care team's ability to arrange these services directly and track that they occurred. Uber Health facilitates critical touchpoints that enable payers and providers to provide maximum quality care at minimum cost.”
This new service is in collaboration with ScriptDrop. Prescription deliveries are offered through any pharmacy registered with the NCPDP within delivery coverage areas. Additionally, Uber Health allows for access to delivery coverage areas that include pharmacies that dispense medications covered by the 340B program—assisting health plans and providers with low-income and uninsured patients.
The press release says that the delivery of healthy food and over-the-counter medicine for those who need it most will also be available soon.
Moreover, Patient Engagement Advisors, a population health level technology company, has enhanced its services by integrating with Uber Health's platform.
Caitlin Donovan, global head of Uber Health was quoted in the release saying that “At Uber Health, we are building solutions that address lessons we’ve learned from years at healthcare companies operating in value-based care contracts. Too much time has been spent ensuring patients had a ride to their follow-up appointment, had picked up the right prescriptions, or had access to food.”
