Within the first week that Austin Correll was driving for Lyft in the fall of 2021, he was sent to pick up passengers at an address that turned out to be for a hospital. When he pulled up to the curb, he found an elderly woman in a wheelchair and another other with a walker, waiting for him — flanked by four or five nurses.

Full story from the verge

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Excerpts:

They literally are just sending normal drivers to do medical transport:

Drivers who do not sign up for Lyft and Uber’s assisted programs can be sent NEMT rides without any training. Drivers who want to participate in the assisted programs are required to take tutorials created by the Open Doors Organization (ODO), a non-profit organization that aims to “teach businesses how to succeed in the disability market.” They don’t include medical or emergency information, a spokesman for the company says: “I’d say it’s more just about customer service.”

A PR rep for Lyft says Lyft Healthcare should not be used for people who have “medical needs,”

  • Jadzia_Dax [she/her]M
    ·
    3 years ago

    Notably, rideshare programs are also much cheaper and lead to cost savings for health systems and insurers (rides are subsidized by the companies, making for a cheaper product even as the business is unprofitable).

    They’re literally not making money and are just undercutting what little shitty medical infrastructure Amerika has to get market dominance.

    More research is needed to get a good understanding of the role rideshare can play in NEMT, Eisenberg says. It’s hard to do rigorous research, though, because the rideshare companies, like most technology companies, are reluctant to share their own data.

    Should be a pre-req for them even getting to pilot test.

    Drivers who do not sign up for Lyft and Uber’s assisted programs can be sent NEMT rides without any training. Drivers who want to participate in the assisted programs are required to take tutorials created by the Open Doors Organization (ODO), a non-profit organization that aims to “teach businesses how to succeed in the disability market.” They don’t include medical or emergency information, a spokesman for the company says: “I’d say it’s more just about customer service.”

    • Jadzia_Dax [she/her]M
      ·
      3 years ago

      A PR rep for Lyft says Lyft Healthcare should not be used for people who have “medical needs,”. In an interview, he said Lyft aims to handle non-emergency transport for riders with fewer needs so that traditional medical transport groups could focus on rides “at the top of their license.”

      :agony-deep: