Dive Brief:
- New York City Medicaid patients seeking rides to their doctor may now be transported by Lyft via the National Medtrans Network, which arranges non-emergency medical transportation, CNN Money reports.
- The two have teamed up on a test program in which the network can set up Lyft rides for their ambulatory New York City customers through Concierge, Lyft's new web-based dashboard.
- A perk of the partnership is it eliminates patient issues, who are typically elderly and don't have a smartphone to book their own rides.
Dive Insight:
The move illustrates the competition between Lyft and Uber, which recently made a medical transportation deal of its own.
Lyft's foray into the medical arena comes with efforts to expand into other industries as well, including hospitality and corporate travel, with medical transportation in particular being seen as having "the potential to be a huge industry for ride-hailing companies," CNN Money reports.
National Medtrans Network has historically booked patient rides through livery cab companies but faced issues with cancellations, lateness, and fraud. It is hoped connecting with Lyft will help reduce the frequency of missed medical appointments by solving patients' transportation problems.
The company is currently booking 2,500 of its 25,000 weekly NYC rides through Lyft and ultimately aims to arrange all of them through Lyft.