GNYHA’s Social Determinants of Health Learning Series continued with a webinar on addressing patients’ transportation needs. Barriers to reliable transportation can hinder patients’ ability to regularly access medical and community-based organizations, which can compromise their health and wellbeing.
Representatives from Lyft, an international rideshare company, reviewed common transportation challenges in health care settings, including long wait times, poor customer experiences, and lack of reliable data. They highlighted partnerships with health care and insurance organizations, including hospitals, Medicaid programs, and Medicare Advantage plans. They also discussed research on the cost benefit of non-emergency medical transportation services for chronic disease management and preventative services.
Mark Levey, Project Manager, Care Coordination at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (NYP), detailed the health system’s patient transportation program, which includes a partnership with Lyft to transport patients post-discharge and to outpatient appointments. The presentation included an overview of patient eligibility criteria, successes, next steps, and considerations for using ride share for patient transportation. Mr. Levey also discussed the benefits of the partnership to NYP, including cost saving, reliability, and good customer service and support.
A webinar recording and materials are available here. A GNYHA webinar on December 18 will review the Medicaid transportation benefit. Registration is available here.