Keystone First looks to Lyft to get pregnant patients to appointments

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Uber and Lyft, which have entered the healthcare space as public health experts and practitioners look for ways to reduce transportation barriers. (Photo courtesy of flickr.com)

For many low-income patients, getting to the doctor for regular checkups can be a challenge. It can be hard to take off from work, and it can be even harder to find a ride to the hospital — especially in an emergency.

Enter: ride-hailing services, Uber and Lyft, which have entered the healthcare space as public health experts and practitioners look for ways to reduce transportation barriers, writes Dana Bate of WHYY for Philadelphia Business Journal.

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Medicaid provider AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia has already tested a program using Lyft for pregnant women. Now Keystone First, the largest Medicaid managed-care plan in southeastern Pennsylvania, is looking to replicate that partnership.

Joanne McFall, Keystone First’s market president, said the organization already coordinates transportation for patients with planned appointments, and arranging those services requires significant forethought and planning. If the patient is a mother, does she have children that need to come with her? Does the vehicle have a car seat? Will anyone else need to come with her, like a translator or one of Keystone’s Maternal Health Navigators, who follow patients throughout their pregnancies?

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