Non-emergency medical transportation barriers result in approximately 3.6 million missed or delayed medical appointments each year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The lack of public transit options thwarts travel for care in many cases. Low-income and elderly Americans may have no other resources to get to the doctor’s office, clinic, or hospital. The growth of chronic conditions that require frequent medical services points to a bad problem that is bound to get even worse.
Allscripts and Lyft recently announced a partnership poised to facilitate non-emergency patient transport via software system integration. Ride-sharing giant Lyft’s Concierge API enables organizations to schedule rides for people who don’t have the Lyft app. Healthcare information technology company Allscripts integrates the Concierge API with the Allscripts Sunrise EHR system, which runs on the latter company’s Open platform. With the integrated system, clinical personnel can order a Lyft service to transport patients to and from medical appointments. The EHR workflow tracking modules capture and report patient pickup, ETA, and arrival to appropriate care team members for Allscripts’ 7.2 million patients.
Lyft already works with other healthcare partners to provide patient transport via the Concierge API. According to Lyft VP of Business Gyre Renwick, the new partnership ship with Allscripts is a major step. The ride-share company’s goal is to cut the number of Americans with medical appointment transportation issues in half by 2020.
