Non emergency medical transportation deals have been an emerging theme in the past couple of years. This year, Lyft has inked at least five collaborations and partnerships. Its agreement with Circulation, a Boston-based startup that coordinates non emergency medical transportation, marks the latest of these.
NEMT is a benefit offered by Medicaid plans to ensure that people with low-incomes who may not have a reliable, affordable way to travel to their healthcare appointments can still get to the doctor’s office. A 2015 study of NEMT in 32 states showed the benefit was used most frequently for behavioral health visits.
The deal gives Lyft access to Circulation’s clients across the country, which include more than 1,000 healthcare facilities such as Boston Children’s Hospital, Mercy Health System’s three acute care hospitals and program for the elderly; and Nemours Children’s Health System. Circulation app users can schedule Lyft rides.
Lyft also has partnerships with other ridesharing companies in the NEMT space such as RoundTrip, LogistiCare, National MedTrans, the NEMT provider for CareMore, and American Medical Response.
The health tech startup has had a collaboration agreement with Uber. As of April this year it extended to 25 states and included partners such as Stanford Health Care, Roper St. Francis Hospital and Commonwealth Care Alliance, according to Modern Healthcare.
Earlier this year, Circulation closed a $10.5 million Series A round, which included Providence Service Corporation and Flare Capital Partners, Boston Children’s Hospital, Humana, Echo Health Ventures (a collaboration of Cambia Health Solutions and Mosaic Health Solutions), NextGen Venture Partners and Intermountain Healthcare Innovation Fund.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Cigna formed its own partnership with Lyft to support its Medicare Advantage plan, Cigna-HealthSpring. It makes the service available to members in Washington D.C. and in certain counties across Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas. Only members whose benefit plan includes supplemental non-emergent medical transportation coverage through Access2Care can use the service.
Veyo, a spinoff of Phoenix-based fleet operator Total Transit, has been pushing into the NEMT space as well and has contracts in at least five states: California, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, and Texas.
Photo: Mike Coppol, Getty Images
