Eyeworld

MAR 2017

EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.

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26 Ophthalmology Business • March 2017 Palmer in the future, calling it a pos- sible "godsend for surgical and clinic patients." There are nuances, how- ever, especially for surgical patients who undergo anesthesia. "You can't let a patient who was under anesthesia take an Uber home," Dr. Habash said, citing pos- sible safety and legal issues. "[How- ever,] a lot of medical centers have started using a third-party consultant to provide malpractice insurance or coverage [for these situations]. It's a third party that keeps track of the patient from the facility to home. It makes it much more feasible to send them with someone who is affiliat- ed with the medical center in some way but is still part of one of these services." In January 2016, Lyft and Na- tional Medtrans Network announced a partnership to bring transportation to Medicaid beneficiaries in New York City. In a blog post, Lyft stated that it was providing up to 2,500 rides per week to senior patients in New York. With some in this demographic not owning smartphones—and thus the app through which Lyft drivers are arranged—the company's Con- cierge program allows third parties to request the ride for them. Later in 2016, Uber announced the pilot of a similar program— Circulation—at Boston Children's Hospital, Mercy Health System in Pennsylvania, and Nemours Chil- dren's Health System in Wilmington, Delaware. Michael Ruiz, MedStar Health vice president and chief digital offi- cer, said since partnering with Uber, patient satisfaction seems to be high and it costs significantly less than calling a cab. "Among our favorite patient stories is one of an elderly woman who relied on taxi cabs to transport her to her routine radiology appoint- ments," he said. "She would call for a cab, then start doing her hair while waiting for the cab to arrive, since the wait time was 45 minutes on average. The first time she called an Uber to transport her to her appoint- ment, he arrived within 10 minutes to find that she was still in her robe and curlers. "Another patient was scheduled to have surgery at MedStar Wash- ington Hospital Center and discov- ered the day before the surgery that he no longer had a ride, at which point he was routed to Uber for help with transportation," Mr. Ruiz said. "Because of MedStar's effort to enable access, the patient arrived for his appointment on time and received the medical care he needed." For ophthalmic services, Mr. Ruiz said Uber can be particularly useful. "Eye procedures generally don't allow patients to drive so they're required to rely on either public transportation or family/friends for transportation. Utilizing Uber enables ophthalmic patients to conveniently travel to appointments without taking unnecessary risk be- hind the wheel or being at the mercy of someone else's schedule," he said. Mr. Ruiz said ride services like Uber have allowed patients, especial- ly those with chronic conditions, to receive care on a regular basis. It also eliminates the burden of finding a parking spot and a long walk from the parking garage. "Uber has also helped our hospital system as a whole because it has been effective in reducing missed medical appointments," Mr. Ruiz said. "Generally, missed appointments are a result of unre- liable transportation for those who either don't have their own mode of transportation or those who rely on others to drive them to appoint- ments. Utilizing Uber enables these patients to consistently arrive to their scheduled appointments. This also translates to cost savings because we don't spend as much money treating patients who are able to routinely access preventative care." Mr. Ruiz advised practices or hos- pital systems interested in providing ride services to patients to work with an Uber-like partnership as a supple- mentary process to an existing pro- cess for vouchers for taxis and public transportation, so as to not have to reinvent policies. "The health care industry as a whole needs to work together to fur- ther explore how we can bring about regulatory change to better leverage technology from other industries to provide improved access to health care and an overall better patient experience," Mr. Ruiz said. In the older community, Dr. Habash said ride services like Uber and Lyft are spreading "like wildfire." "One person in their residence or community takes an Uber ride and is so happy with the result, they tell all their friends," she said. OB References 1. Wallace R, et al. Access to health care and nonemergency medical transportation: Two missing links. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. 2005;1924:76–84. 2. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Non-Emergency Medical Transportation. Med- icaid Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Booklet for Providers. 2016. Editors' note: The sources have no finan- cial interests related to this comments. Contact information Habash: ranya@hipaachat.com Ruiz: Ann.C.Nickels@medstar.net continued from page 24

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