Lyft Partners with Caregiver App to Transport Seniors
Ride-hailing service Lyft said it will partner with a caregiver platform, San Bruno-based CareLinx, to transport the elderly. Both companies say the service is in high demand for seniors trying to get to medical appointments and social engagements on their own or with caregivers who may not own cars.Community Transportation Association estimates almost 3.6 million Americans miss or delay medical care because they don’t have transportation to their appointments. Hospitals also report seeing a loss in revenue from “no-shows.”The ride request feature will be available wherever both apps operate. Lyft services about 200 cities, and CareLinx has caregivers in some 50 metros in the U.S.Caregivers or family members can request a Lyft ride with the
CareLinx mobile app. The interface on CareLinx looks slightly different than on the standard Lyft app but rides will come from the same pool of drivers, said
Dan Trigub, who manages health care partnerships at Lyft.“This is one of the first few examples of a full Lyft integration in a third-party application. It gives the power of families to schedule a ride on behalf of the user so grandma never has to touch Lyft or know what it is,” Trigub said.San Bruno-based CareLinx powers a platform where users can hire caregivers for their family members. The network consists of about 170,000 caregivers who help seniors with everything from making meals to housekeeping needs. The company reports logging almost 1 million hours of service from caregivers since starting in 2011.“Seniors have not been able to take advantage of these on-demand applications,” said
Sherwin Sheik, CareLinx founder and CEO. “It was actually Lyft who got us thinking about using our service. We would not invest in this if we did not think our users wanted it. It’s not something CareLinx is making a single cent on.”This isn’t Lyft’s first time finding business in health care: In January, the San Francisco company started working with National Medtrans Network in New York, later expanding to California and Nevada, to get people to their appointments. Lyft said it was completing 2,500 rides per week In New York City through this service. In September, Lyft partnered with senior care organization Aging2.0 to address transportation challenges and GreatCall to offer seniors a simplified way (no smartphone required) to request rides.Lyft did not disclose how many health care partnerships it has, but according to Trigub it works with dozens of health companies. “Lyft has been a great option for ambulatory transport. It opens the scope of who we can serve when it comes to door to door transport,” Trigub said.“We think health care is so important to us.”Ride-hailing competitor Uber last year began delivering $10 “wellness packs” with flu vaccinations through its pilot program UberHealth. Uber also works with Maryland nonprofit MedStar Health, hospitals in New Jersey and Florida and communication company Relatient.Lyft and CareLinx also pledged to donate 1 percent of proceeds to the Alzheimer’s Association.Written by:
Antoinette Siu, San Francisco Business Times | December 12, 2016
Image courtesy of digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Ride-hailing service Lyft said it will partner with a caregiver platform, San Bruno-based CareLinx, to transport the elderly. Both companies say the service is in high demand for seniors trying to get to medical appointments and social engagements on their own or with caregivers who may not own cars.Community Transportation Association estimates almost 3.6 million Americans miss or delay medical care because they don’t have transportation to their appointments. Hospitals also report seeing a loss in revenue from “no-shows.”The ride request feature will be available wherever both apps operate. Lyft services about 200 cities, and CareLinx has caregivers in some 50 metros in the U.S.Caregivers or family members can request a Lyft ride with the CareLinx mobile app. The interface on CareLinx looks slightly different than on the standard Lyft app but rides will come from the same pool of drivers, said Dan Trigub, who manages health care partnerships at Lyft.“This is one of the first few examples of a full Lyft integration in a third-party application. It gives the power of families to schedule a ride on behalf of the user so grandma never has to touch Lyft or know what it is,” Trigub said.San Bruno-based CareLinx powers a platform where users can hire caregivers for their family members. The network consists of about 170,000 caregivers who help seniors with everything from making meals to housekeeping needs. The company reports logging almost 1 million hours of service from caregivers since starting in 2011.“Seniors have not been able to take advantage of these on-demand applications,” said Sherwin Sheik, CareLinx founder and CEO. “It was actually Lyft who got us thinking about using our service. We would not invest in this if we did not think our users wanted it. It’s not something CareLinx is making a single cent on.”This isn’t Lyft’s first time finding business in health care: In January, the San Francisco company started working with National Medtrans Network in New York, later expanding to California and Nevada, to get people to their appointments. Lyft said it was completing 2,500 rides per week In New York City through this service. In September, Lyft partnered with senior care organization Aging2.0 to address transportation challenges and GreatCall to offer seniors a simplified way (no smartphone required) to request rides.Lyft did not disclose how many health care partnerships it has, but according to Trigub it works with dozens of health companies. “Lyft has been a great option for ambulatory transport. It opens the scope of who we can serve when it comes to door to door transport,” Trigub said.“We think health care is so important to us.”Ride-hailing competitor Uber last year began delivering $10 “wellness packs” with flu vaccinations through its pilot program UberHealth. Uber also works with Maryland nonprofit MedStar Health, hospitals in New Jersey and Florida and communication company Relatient.Lyft and CareLinx also pledged to donate 1 percent of proceeds to the Alzheimer’s Association.Written by: Antoinette Siu, San Francisco Business Times | December 12, 2016 Image courtesy of digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net