As ride-share giants Lyft and Uber have pushed into the healthcare space, they've integrated offering rides to patients into their business plan. However, experts are worried that the drivers lack sufficient healthcare experience to deal with any potential issues, and passengers and drivers themselves have expressed unease, The Verge reported Feb. 17.
Ride-share companies offer cheaper, more flexible transportation for patients going to and from appointments, and one study has shown its ability to improve patient satisfaction. However, other studies haven't found much benefit to them, suggesting similar missed appointment rates.
"It can save money, and it's less costly than a lot of the existing infrastructure. But the lower cost is taking away in some way from the quality that traditional transportation companies can provide," Yochai Eisenberg, PhD, an assistant professor of disability and human development at the Chicago-based University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System, told The Verge.
Because of HIPAA laws, drivers don't know the difference between regular pickups and health-related ones, meaning sometimes they can be surprised by picking up vulnerable people. One driver, Austin Correll, told The Verge he felt unprepared after he was asked to transport a woman who had just had heart surgery to a destination two hours away, and then call an ambulance to help her out of the car.
"The biggest thing I was worried about was, what if there was a medical emergency?" he told The Verge.
Read the full piece here.