Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX) and Lyft have come together to provide non-emergency transportation to the patients of healthcare providers as part of their workflow.
The announcement of this partnership comes after rival Uber recently announced a similar service. Both platforms are addressing the growing problem of keeping medical appointments due to lack of transportation. In the US, 3.6 million people face this challenge, with lower-income patients missing or rescheduling more appointments.
Integrating transportation as part of a medical firm’s workflow gives patients an added value service for ensuring they make all their appointments. For physicians with small practices, this is a great way to increase business by marketing to communities with limited resources.
In collaborating with Allscripts and its Open platform, Lyft has partnered with a company in the healthcare sector which provides information technology solutions to advance clinical, financial and operational results.
Gyre Renwick, Vice president of Lyft Business, explained the partnership in a press release. Renwick said, “Through a seamless integration of Lyft’s API and Allscripts’ EHR system, we’re empowering clinicians to eliminate transportation barriers for millions of people across the country by making it easier to get to and from medical appointments with Lyft.”
Allscripts and Lyft Partnership
As part of the partnership, Allscripts is going to integrate its Sunrise electronic health record (EHR) with the Lyft Concierge API so healthcare providers can request rides within their own platform. The Sunrise system has an automated workflow capable of scheduling a ride on Lyft once it identifies a need for transportation.
When a patient is in transit, the care team can use the tracking board to monitor the patient’s status with real-time notifications of pickups and estimated time of arrival. This integration will include 2,500 hospitals and 45,000 physician practices with 180,000 physicians. An estimated seven million patients will be reached.
Real world use cases of this solution by American Medical Response, American Logistics Company, CareLinx, GoGo Grandparent and One Call have already delivered solid results. On its official blog, Lyft reports this has resulted in improved patient experience, decreased wait times and reduced costs.
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