photo credit:  BigTunaOnline // Shutterstock

For those who miss doctors appointments due to not having a ride, Uber and Lyft are here to help!

Uber has just announced the launch of Uber Health, a system that will allow health-care providers to schedule rides for patients. Over the past few years, Lyft has partnered with hospital systems, health insurers and medical transport services to help patients get to doctor appointments.

Whether this idea will help out with the “appointment no-show” issue in the medical field or not, is still up in the air, but the idea is definitely a good one!

The target groups are the elderly, low income patients and people who NEED to make it to doctor appointment for things such as cancer treatment and dialysis. One issue noticed by Uber is that some people may not even have smartphones to use the service, leading them to use text messages, printouts or even phone calls to notify customers of their ride. They found that a paper-based communication was the best form,  “circle the make, model, license plate number [of the ride].”

Patients with Medicaid can use transportation benefits that can be used for the services. While other medical providers simply pay drivers with their own money.

Written by Clarke Jones