Lyft is integrating with Epic, a leading electronic health record (EHR) that the majority of top-ranked hospitals and medical schools use, announced Lyft in a blog post.
Lyft worked directly with Epic to create the Lyft for Epic integration, enabling health system staff to schedule a Lyft ride for a patient directly from that patient’s record. Lyft for Epic, which integrates Lyft Concierge directly into Epic, will make it easier for healthcare staff to order a Lyft ride on behalf of a patient. Staff can send reliable rides directly from a patient’s profile in the EHR — simplifying their day-to-day tasks, saving time, and allowing them to focus on what matters most: the patients. And patients can easily get to their appointments and back home after the visit without needing an app.
Lyft for Epic aims to:
· Simplify sending rides. Nurses, case managers, and other healthcare workers are already familiar with Epic — adding notes to patient files, scheduling appointments, and discharging patients. By accessing Lyft directly from the EHR, staff can schedule rides by directly accessing Lyft from a patient’s record, rather than needing to sign into a separate tool. Patient and appointment information will also pre-populate in the ride request form, reducing friction in the booking process.
· Improve appointment adherence. Arranging a Lyft ride when booking an appointment results in fewer missed appointments. Our data shows that Lyft can help providers reduce no-show rates by up to 27 percent.
· Increase operational efficiency. Arranging a Lyft ride at the time of patient discharge can lead to shorter waiting times, less crowded waiting rooms, and improved patient throughput.
· Measure patient outcomes. Most health systems have not collected data on the impact of their transportation programs. With Lyft for Epic, we’re also working towards giving health systems the ability to generate reports that make it easier to measure the impact of rideshare on health system spend and population health outcomes — potentially even tracking patient segments to proactively identify patients that would benefit from a Lyft ride.
Today, Lyft partners with nine out of the top 10 health systems in the U.S, representing thousands of hospitals and clinics across the country. The Lyft for Epic integration will give these organizations even more resources to ensure transportation is never a barrier to care. Many health systems in the U.S. use Epic, nearly 30 percent of which already partner with Lyft for their non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) programs. Several of our existing health system partners — including Ochsner Health, Tampa General, and Denver Health — have already committed to using the integration.
“Access to reliable transportation is a common barrier to seeking healthcare, especially for our most vulnerable patients,” said David Carmouche, MD, Senior Vice President, Community Care at Ochsner Health. “By teaming up to integrate Lyft into Epic – our established health record system – Ochsner is providing a solution that makes it easier for patients to seek out high quality care when they need it and without unnecessary delays due to a lack of transportation.”
“We have partnered with Lyft as an extension of the world class care TGH provides to our patients,” said Jason Swoboda, Assc. Director of Health Innovation and Emerging Technology at Tampa General. “Interfacing Lyft with Epic, TGH’s electronic medical record, will speed up the process to order a Lyft and reduce keyboard time for our team members. This is a win for both, our team members and those we serve, allowing for more valuable time spent with our patients - ultimately impacting quality outcomes which our patients expect.”
“It is gratifying for Denver Health to have had this partnership with Lyft the past few years, and we are excited to see it expand in a positive way,” said Amy Friedman, Chief Experience Officer at Denver Health. “Some of our patients rely on this service to get to and from Denver Health for important appointments and care. The integration with Epic will make scheduling transportation with Lyft even easier -- and that will give our providers, staff, and patients peace of mind.”
At Lyft, we will continue to invest in products that support our healthcare partners, ranging from organizations that depend on Lyft Concierge to offer NEMT rides for patients, to essential healthcare workers who use Lyft Pass to get to and from work. As a leading national rideshare company with deep healthcare expertise, our goal is to solve some of the industry’s biggest challenges to improve access to care.
