Uber Health to Integrate with ClinOne to Transport Clinical Trial Patients

Uber Health will now offer transportation services for patients enrolled in clinical trials through its integration with ClinOne’s patient-facing concierge platform, ClinicalTrialConnect, according to an announcement today.

The goal of the integration is to develop a solution for patients who have difficulty making it to study appointments.

“By working together, we leverage our solutions to ensure better access to health and support patients in their time of need,” said Dan Trigub, head of Uber Health.

Securing transportation could be costly, as patients missing treatment windows and causing trial deviations is a 50-fold increase compared to the cost of a ride-sharing service, the companies claimed. Lack of transportation could also deter patients from participating in clinical trials.

ClinOne’s solution will provide step-by-step notifications via email or text messages to patients, family members and research sites.

“Satisfied and well-cared for patients have been found to stay in studies for longer durations, for increased patient retention and is extremely beneficial to the study outcome,” Uber Health and ClinOne said.

Since its inception in March 2018, Uber Health has partnered with healthcare organizations to provide transportation for patients, caregivers and staffers.

And Uber is not the only ridesharing service diving further into the healthcare space.

Last March, Lyft struck a deal with a medical transport software company Acuity Link, which offers routing software for streamlined coordination of non-emergency patient transformation. In June 2018, Lyft partnered with Greenphire to centralize billing for the transportation of clinical trial participants. And in September, Lyft teamed up with Formative Health to provide non-emergency rides.

But while the Lyft and Uber Health services seem promising to increase the adherence of appointments and clinical trials, a study last February revealed that there was little difference in the number of missed appointments between patients who had a free Lyft ride to an appointment and those who just received a reminder phone call.

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