Lyft’s Arizona announcement offers a glimpse into the expanding and lucrative opportunities for ride sharing companies including rival Uber as well as other startups and new entrants like Ford Motor Company’s GoRide Health invest into expansion for non-emergency medical transportation services. Lyft said it hopes to negotiate similar arrangements in other states and their Medicaid programs for poor Americans.
“Too many Americans are confronted with barriers when they need to see a physician, and without adequate access, this causes missed appointments, delayed diagnoses and often worsening of existing health conditions,” said Lyft’s vice president of healthcare Megan Callahan, “But states across the country, beginning with Arizona, are paving the way by providing ride-sharing as a transportation solution in their Medicaid programs,” Callhan said.
As health insurers move away from fee-for-service medicine to value-based care and population health models that make sure patients are getting quality care in the right place and at the right time, ride-sharing companies say they can have a key role. Medicaid patients suffer multiple chronic conditions and are known to have difficulty accessing medical care services so insurers and Medicaid programs see ride-share as a potential solution to making sure they get to their doctor’s appointments.
The Medicaid market remains a growing opportunity as more states weigh expanding such coverage for poor Americans under the Affordable Care Act.