According to Uber, 3.6 million Americans miss doctor appointments each year due to a lack of reliable transportation, with no-show rates as high as 30% nationwide. While transportation barriers are common across the general population, Uber notes, these barriers are greatest for vulnerable populations. Now, the company is launching Uber Health to partner with healthcare organizations to provide reliable, comfortable transportation for patients.
The dashboard allows healthcare professionals to order rides for patients going to and from the care they need. Uber also is launching its Uber Health application programming interface (API) to enable easy integration into existing healthcare products. More than 100 healthcare organizations in the United States already use Uber Health as part of its beta program.
Developed with healthcare in mind, new features include:
- Flexible ride scheduling for patients, caregivers, and staff: Coordinators can schedule rides on behalf of patients, caregivers, and staff to take place immediately, within a few hours, or up to 30 days in advance. This allows for transportation to be scheduled for follow-up appointments while patients are still at the practice. Multiple rides can be scheduled and managed at the same time, all from a single dashboard.
- Access for patients without a smartphone: Riders don’t need the Uber app or even a smartphone to get a ride with Uber Health because it’s all done through text message. Uber also will introduce an option for riders to receive a call with trip details to their mobile phone or landline instead.
- Simple billing, reporting, and management: Practices can keep track of what they’re spending on rides. The service is designed to make reporting on requested rides and viewing monthly billing statements, appointments, and scheduling reports simple.
- HIPAA compliance: To ensure Uber Health meets HIPAA standards, the company says that it has been working to develop, implement, and customize numerous safeguards. It also has worked with Clearwater Compliance to conduct risk and compliance assessments.
“Uber has helped us drastically reduce appointment cancellations. It’s great to be able to quickly request a ride so that in-need patients can make an appointment they’d otherwise miss,” said Pete Celano, director of consumer health initiatives at MedStar Health.
“Coordinating rides for patients with Uber Health has been incredibly easy. By allowing us to schedule multiple rides at once, we’ve been more productive and able to focus on the patient experience. Our patients have been very receptive and enjoy this wonderful service Uber and Pro Staff Physical Therapy offers,” said Arelys Rodriguez, receptionist at Clifton ProStaff.
The dashboard and API are now available.
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