Lyft and Call9, a startup that uses technology to bring care to the bedside of nursing home patients, have partnered for a new effort focused on transportation.
Through the collaboration, Call9 physicians and on-site first responders can schedule Lyft rides for family members of patients who are in the nursing homes where Call9 operates. Rides can be scheduled through the Lyft Concierge platform, which is integrated into Call9’s dashboard. The service is available even to family members without the Lyft app.
The ultimate aim is to improve communication with families when their loved ones are experiencing a change in condition.
Based in New York City, Call9’s approach involves placing a first responder in nursing homes 24/7. The individual attends to the patient whenever there’s a change in his or her condition. The first responder can then use Call9’s technology to bring a remote doctor into the loop. The doctor can see, diagnose and treat patients, thus avoiding unnecessary ED trips.
The startup’s co-founder and CEO, Timothy Peck, is an emergency physician by training, but he didn’t know anything about nursing homes when he set out to build the company. Thus, he decided to live in a nursing home for three months to gain insight.
Call9 currently covers over 3,700 beds in New York state, it said in a news release.
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.
As for Lyft, the on-demand transportation company has branched into the healthcare sector. The organization has a partnership with CareMore Health, a division of Anthem, through which it provides non-emergency medical transportation to CareMore patients. And earlier this year, Lyft paired up with Hackensack Meridian Health, nonprofit system headquartered in Edison, New Jersey, to establish a rideshare command center geared toward providing NEMT to patients in need of a ride.
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