Uber Health and Cerner are taking on a big social determinant of health: transportation.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
The on-demand rideshare service and EHR company jointly announced on Monday that Uber’s app will now directly integrate into Cerner’s electronic health record so that providers will be able to schedule patients for pick-up and drop-off for their non-emergency medical appointments. The announcement was made on the second day of the HLTH conference in Las Vegas on Monday, which has become the place where healthcare organizations of all sizes and stripes are intent on breaking some kinds of news.
All of Cerner’s hospital clients will be able to avail of this service soon.
‘“Reliable transportation to and from appointments can help reduce operating costs, patient no-show rates and help improve patient outcomes,” said Dan Trigub, Head of Uber Health, in a news release. “Our goal is to simplify the way healthcare providers can access transportation options — and our work together will accomplish just that,”
In an email response to questions forwarded by a Uber spokeswoman, Trigub explained that patients do not need to be Uber customers with an app on their phone to be able to use this service. They do not even need to own a smartphone. That’s because the providers are the ones scheduling the appointments, which can be set up to 30 days in advance.
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
Through the collaboration, a patient’s information — name, phone number and pick-up address — will auto-populate from Cerner technology directly into a ride request with Uber.
Hospitals can either cover the cost of the Uber rides from their budget allocated for non-emergency medical transportation or bill a third-party health plan. Uber bills the hospital monthly for all the rides that are performed via the Uber Health platform.
The collaboration between Uber and Cerner is aimed to reduce no-shows that have pretty significant financial ramifications for hospitals as well as to improve patient outcomes, especially those with chronic conditions who benefit from regular checks ups.
Consider this: If a single patient does not show up for an appointment, it can cost $26,000 a year in idle resources, not including the lost revenue, according to Medbridge Transport, which provides non-emergency medical transport.
There are also, presumably, other advantages of tackling at least the transportation piece of the puzzle of delivering care: this collaboration may also improve patient satisfaction.
“Patients who have received transportation via Uber have expressed how helpful it has been due to the timeliness of the driver’s arrival,” said Craig Anderson, Director of Innovation at BayCare, where Cerner’s EHR is deployed, in the news release. “Specifically, when looking at hospital throughput, Uber Health has been a tremendous asset to BayCare. Our ‘discharge order to door’ time has improved by 65 minutes due to our ability to provide an Uber ride for patients that are in need.”
BayCare is the largest healthcare system in the Tampa Bay area and West Central Florida.
Uber launched its health division in March 2018 making it one among a cadre of tech companies seeking to make hay out of healthcare’s multifaceted problems.
Back in August 2017, Sutter Physician Services, a division of Sutter Health announced that Sutter Physician Services (SPS), a healthcare management and administrative services company, was working with Lyft to help improve greater patient access to non-emergent healthcare appointments.
And then there are other companies like RoundTrip and Circulation, acquired by Logisticare, that promise to solve the transportation problem for patients and reduce no-show rates.
While Uber wants to play in this space, it didn’t address a question specifically about how much it can save a system if no-show rate is reduced. By contrast, Hitch Health makes a bold claim, albeit an estimate, on its website:
Photo: Dmitrii_Guzhanin, Getty Images and Hitch Health website
