BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Partners HealthCare has entered into an agreement with Circulation to coordinate medical transportation logistics through Circulation’s on-demand ride ordering exchange. The agreement, which utilizes ride sharing technology and partners like Lyft to transport patients, aligns with the work Partners is doing to enhance care continuity and mitigate the social determinants that directly impact patient health. The relationship also allows for expansion to serve Partners employees in addition to patient travel.
“We are very excited to team with Partners” said Robin Heffernan, CEO & Co-Founder of Circulation. “Our combined efforts will help one of the best healthcare systems to enhance their service with on-demand transportation.”
According to a national study published by the National Academy of Sciences, each year, nearly 4 million Americans miss out on care because they face transportation barriers, creating untold costs to the U.S. healthcare system and negative outcomes for patients. The partnership between Partners, Circulation and Lyft is on the cutting edge of efforts to address the “social determinants” that can account for up to 80% of health outcomes, with transportation being one of the major determinants.
“At Lyft Business, our goal is to provide seamless transportation solutions to organizations who want to move the people they care about,” says Gyre Renwick, VP of Lyft Business. “This collaboration between Partners and Circulation is especially exciting because together, they’re working to address the medical transportation barrier that 3.6 million people currently face each year - a problem that we are committed to reducing by 50 percent by 2020. By providing transit solutions to even more people, we’re collectively working towards this outcome, and in doing so are meaningfully improving people’s lives.”
To help break down transportation barriers for all patients, Circulation's on-demand ride network taps into Lyft rides as well as specialized transport providers including door-to-door, wheelchair, and stretcher services. The Circulation platform also creates a centralized way for Partners team members to track benefit utilization, patient satisfaction, and trip costs.
“At Partners, we look for technologies that can help us deliver care more efficiently, improve patient outcomes, and better serve our communities” said Gregg S. Meyer, MD, MSc, Chief Clinical Officer at Partners. "This new collaboration checks the box on all three and further helps us address those social determinants of health that are so impactful on a patient’s well-being — such as access to transportation.”
Circulation is now being used by over 2,500 health facilities in more than 40 states across the country. This news from Circulation follows a recent partnership announcement with Buoy Health, an AI-enabled health assistant.
For more information on Circulation, please visit www.circulation.com.
For more information on Partners HealthCare, please visit www.partners.org
About Circulation
Circulation takes a multidisciplinary,
cutting-edge approach to fundamentally shift how consumers consume
healthcare products and services. Enabling better movement of people,
and disrupting the traditional NEMT marketplace, is Phase I for
Circulation operations. Circulation is the first customizable,
patient-centric digital transportation platform that seamlessly
integrates with both healthcare systems and health plans, and delivers a
full suite of on-demand ride options including TNC, door-to-door,
wheelchair and stretcher.
About Partners HealthCare
Partners HealthCare is an
integrated health care system, founded by Brigham and Women’s Hospital
and Massachusetts General Hospital, that offers patients a continuum of
coordinated and high-quality care. In addition to its two academic
medical centers, the system includes community and specialty hospitals,
a managed care organization, a physician network, community health
centers, home health and long-term care services, and other health care
entities. Partners is a non-profit organization that is committed to
patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community. In
addition, Partners is one of the nation’s leading biomedical research
organizations and is a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical
School.
For more information, please visit www.partners.org.
