BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Circulation Health (www.circulation.com), a ride-ordering exchange that coordinates medical transportation logistics using Lyft and other transportation partners, today announced that it has entered into a nationwide partnership with Buoy Health (www.buoyhealth.com), to help millions of patients online receive the care they need when they need it the most. The partnership – which will roll out before the end of 2018 – will introduce Buoy’s patients to an even further streamlined, end-to-end healthcare experience by making it easy for them, post assessment, to book reliable on-demand transportation, powered by Circulation, to recommended care.
“Ultimately, it comes down to providing a better experience to individuals who need timely access to care,” said Robin Heffernan, CEO & Co-Founder of Circulation. “And since every patient journey starts with a ride, it makes so much sense to give Buoy users easy access to convenient, reliable transportation to their local pharmacies, primary care clinics, or urgent care centers.”
To access, patients online will go to www.buoyhealth.com and begin engaging with its friendly AI health assistant, in an exchange designed to mirror a conversation with a doctor. Patients will then be prompted through a series of questions to enter their symptoms in detail. Buoy will then analyze the consumer’s inputs in real-time and point the customer to a recommended course of treatment. To help ensure the patient takes the next step in treatment, Buoy will then enable users to book on-demand rides through Circulation’s ride-ordering platform — either using their own funds or through insurance if transportation is a covered benefit.
“At Buoy, we are dedicated to helping patients get the care they need, when they need it the most,” said Andrew Le, CEO and Co-Founder of Buoy Health. “By integrating Circulation’s transportation exchange into our platform, we will now be able to remove a major barrier to care by giving anyone who visits Buoy access to convenient and reliable transport. We are thrilled to be partnering with a forward-looking company like Circulation to break down barriers in healthcare.”
The partnership between Circulation and Buoy solves for a major issue in the industry. According to a national study published by The National Academy of Sciences, each year, 3.6 million Americans miss out on care because they face transportation barriers, which in turn creates untold costs to the U.S. healthcare system. Circulation’s partnership with Buoy Health is on the cutting edge of a larger shift in value-based care by seeking to address the social determinants of health that occur outside of a typical care setting — such as access to transportation.
“The intelligence of Buoy’s AI health assistant helps patients identify their symptoms and gives them options for next steps. Circulation helps enable them to truly follow-through on those next steps,” said Heffernan. “In that way, this partnership is all about providing a better experience for the patient and thereby, improving care.”
Both Buoy Health and Circulation have experienced rapid growth over the past few months — Buoy currently sees over two million consumers a month and Circulation is currently being used by over 1,500 medical facilities in more than 40 states.
For more information on Circulation, please visit: www.circulation.com. For more information on Buoy Health, please visit: www.buoyhealth.com
About Circulation
Circulation takes a multidisciplinary, cutting-edge approach to turn better transportation into better health outcomes and positively impact population health. Circulation is the first customizable, patient-centric digital transportation platform that seamlessly integrates with both healthcare systems and Lyft's API. Circulation also integrates with other ride options and is compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to protect the privacy and security of patient health information.
The company was co-founded by John Brownstein, PhD, Professor at Harvard Medical School, and Research Faculty at Boston Children’s Hospital; Robin Heffernan, PhD, VP of Booz Allen Hamilton and successful serial entrepreneur; Jared Hawkins, PhD, MMSc, Faculty at Boston Children's Hospital and Director of its Informatics Innovation Program; and Leerom Segal, CEO and Co-founder of Klick Health, a leading commercialization partner in the healthcare industry. Follow Circulation on Twitter at @circulation.
About Buoy Health
Buoy Health is a health technology company that develops digital tools to help people from the moment they get sick start their care on the right foot. Formed at the Harvard Innovation Laboratory in Boston MA, Buoy Health’s team of doctors, product designers, and software engineers developed its advanced AI, Buoy, in direct response to the downward spiral we’ve all faced when we attempt to self-diagnose our symptoms online. The technology behind Buoy leverages artificial intelligence — powered by advanced machine learning and proprietary granular data — to resemble an exchange you would have with your favorite doctor — to provide consumers with a real-time, accurate analysis of their symptoms and to help them easily and quickly embark on the right path to getting better. Buoy Health is based in Boston and was founded in 2014. For more information, please visit www.buoyhealth.com.
