Uber Health announced a new partnership this morning with Grand Rounds, a company that matches specialists with patients and other providers, that will provide members of the latter with non-emergency rides to and from appointments. Integrating Uber’s platform with Grand Rounds’ existing care coordination backend will not only allow the company to more easily manage its members’ bookings, but also allow patients to directly book their own rides.
"We know employers and their ecosystem partners play a major role in how individuals access care, whether that comes in the form of employee benefits or time off of work to travel to appointments,” Dan Trigub, head of Uber Health, said in a statement. “By teaming up with Grand Rounds, our shared capabilities can simplify how members receive high-quality care, ensuring that we help remove transportation barriers and get members to the right place, at the right time.”
Similarly, Carisk Partners, a specialty risk transfer and care coordination company active in Florida and New Jersey, has also chosen to employ Uber Health’s non-emergency transport coordination platform. Through it, coordinations can more easily schedule and confirm trips through a web-based dashboard, while patients receive text message updates regarding the specifics of their upcoming ride.
“Getting to and from medical appointments can be stressful and expensive, with transportation delays posing a barrier to care that can compromise patient outcomes and impose higher healthcare costs,” Dr. Alana Letourneau, SVP of clinical strategy at Carisk, said in a statement. “This relationship helps to resolve these issues by offering a level of convenience, comfort and reduced stress for not only the injured worker, but also claims staff who are tasked to reschedule missed appointments or make alternate transportation arrangements.”
Wellpepper and eVideon are aligning their patient experience products to offer a joint package consisting of digital treatment plans for outpatients and bedside engagement services for those staying in the hospital. By integrating their products, the companies are looking to offer a consistent end-to-end platform for provider customers.
“Increasingly, health systems are looking for patient experiences that span inpatient and outpatient settings,” Wellpepper CEO Anne Weiler said in a statement. “The patient journey begins before a patient enters the hospital and continues long after discharge. This partnership enables an engaging and usable experience for patients across their entire journey of care.”
Virginia-based Optima Health, part of Sentara Healthcare, is employing Cardinal Analytx Solutions' health insight generation platform in an effort to proactively offer care to its members and patients. The machine learning service scans patient data to find individuals who may be at risk of experiencing health decline and gauges that individual’s likelihood of engagement for the provider so that they may intervene and prevent increased spending.
"The Optima Health vision for integrated healthcare aligns nicely with our mission to shift care from a reactive approach to a more proactive model. Engaging members earlier enables them to live healthier lives and reduces costs for both individuals and plans," Cardinal Analytx CEO Linda T. Hand said in a statement. "Together, Cardinal Analytx and Optima Health can truly see around the corner, bringing tomorrow's risk and rising cost into focus through the same lens for the first time. With this clearer, more complete view, Optima Health can guide members to better care, sooner.”
San Francisco-centered medical alliance Canopy Health has developed and launched a patient-facing mobile application and web portal courtesy of digital business solutions provider Anexinet. Available in the App Store and Google Play Store, the MyCanopyHealth App allows members to access provider directories, a virtual ID card, a cost estimation tool, video visit support and other features.
“Canopy Health was truly looking to be a differentiator compared to traditional health plan and provider portals that are not inherently consumer-centric,” Aman Bhasin, CIO of BayHealth Development, said in a statement. “We wanted to provide members with easy to use health tools that didn’t look or feel stale, meeting and exceeding consumer expectations across other industries.”
ZappRx, a digital specialty prescription and prior authorization platform, has been purchased by EHR vendor Allscripts for an unknown sum. According to a representative from Allscripts, ZappRx’s cloud-based platform for streamlining communication, consent permissions and other multi-step administrative tasks will bolster the EHR vendor’s Veradigm unit.
“Allscripts is excited to add ZappRx’s platform to our growing portfolio,” the representative said in an email statement. “The specialty-prescribing space is a key focus area for Veradigm, our payer and life sciences business unit. The addition of ZappRx’s team and technology will augment our solution offerings and provide great value to our clients.”
