New Lyft Offering Allows Patients to Control Rides To, From Medical Appointments

Lyft has announced a new service, called Lyft Pass for Healthcare, which for the first time will allow patients to request a ride to and from their non-emergency medical appointment or other destination via the ride-hailing app.

Officials, in an announcement this week, said that Lyft Pass for Healthcare “is designed to meet healthcare compliance regulations and keeps the focus where it matters most: the patient experience. It caters to a variety of needs, including rides to and from recurring appointments, public transportation, vaccinations, check-ups, prescription pickups, and more.”

As such, for the first time, eligible patients, health plan members, and Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries can request a ride to and from their medical appointment or other destination via the Lyft app, giving them more flexibility and control over their healthcare journey, officials asserted.

The sponsoring healthcare or social services organization still covers the cost of the ride, while having access to built-in controls for budget, location, compliance, and more. Here’s how it works, as explained by Lyft:

• Sponsoring organizations—a patient care organization—for example, determine the total budget for the program, maximum cost of each ride, approved pickup and drop-off locations, and when the pass can be used.
• They share the pass via phone number, code, or direct link.
• The patient is notified in the Lyft app that the organization sent them a Lyft Pass, with details about which rides are covered.
• When they’re ready, the patient enters the ride location and time and selects the branded pass to apply to their ride. They’ll request the ride that is covered by the organization.
• The organization can easily monitor usage and spend with reporting.

For healthcare specifically, lack of transportation can lead to missed appointments and delayed care. It’s been estimated that nearly 4 million U.S. patients cannot access healthcare due to lack of transportation, which can lead to more emergency room visits and hidden costs—up to $150 billion a year.

Lyft officials, in their announcement, noted that when a patient without access to reliable transportation needs a ride to their medical appointment, the traditional process to get that ride can be inconvenient or even hinder people from seeking the care they need. Many of these individuals — from the pregnant patient with prenatal care appointments, to the Medicare beneficiary who needs a ride home after their COVID-19 vaccination — go through an arduous process, having to phone into a transportation call center up to 72 hours in advance, wait in a queue, wait for a ride ordered on their behalf, and then do it all over again for their next appointment or a missed ride, they pointed out.

"We’re inserting a world class technology many are already familiar with into patients’ care journey," Megan Callahan, vice president of Lyft Healthcare, said in a statement. "By leveraging our superpower in consumer tech, we’ve automated an important piece of health access that allows patients to be self-sufficient and in control, while allowing our partners to focus on the services they provide, rather than on administrative processes."

Ken Yamaguchi, M.D., chief medical officer for Centene, the St. Louis, Mo.-based insurance company, added, “We know that transportation is a critical barrier and members want an option as easy and consumer friendly as possible. Many of our members already use the Lyft app in their daily lives, and we're applying that technology to ensure they also have access to COVID vaccinations.”