Lyft, Allscripts partnership aims to make it easier for patients to make medical appointments: 5 things to know

Allscripts and ridesharing company Lyft are teaming up to help patients find nonemergency transportation to and from their medical appointments.  

Here are five things to know.

1. The partnership will allow 45,000 physician practices, 180,000 physicians and 2,500 hospitals to request Lyft rides for patients, according to a news release.

2. This will be possible through the integration of Lyft's proprietary application programming interface and the Allscripts Open platform into the Allscripts Sunrise EHR. Through the EHR, an automated workflow would schedule a Lyft for the patient. Providers and other care team members will be able to see real-time notifications of patient pickup, estimated time of arrival and arrival, according to the companies.

3. A total of 3.6 million Americans are not able to get to a medical appointment due to transportation issues, according to a report published by the Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. This can create mounting healthcare expenses. But the company said its partnership with Allscripts will help move Lyft one step closer to its goal of cutting those numbers in half by 2020.

3. Gyre Renwick, vice president of Lyft Business, said in a statement: "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."

4. Allscripts CEO Paul Black also expressed excitement about the partnership. "Our Open platform and vision for true interoperability enables us to work with a range of partners to deliver innovative solutions in all areas of care, and we feel it's our responsibility to provide tools to help consumers access care," he said in a statement.

5. In addition to the Allscripts collaboration, Lyft also recently partnered with healthcare technology company Hitch Health for nonemergency medical transportation. Other Lyft healthcare partners include Blue Cross Blue Shield, LogistiCare. St. Louis-based Ascension, Sacramento-Calif.-based Sutter Health, CareLinx and Circulation.

 

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