Uber Health launches same-day prescription drug delivery
Uber’s health care arm, whose clients include health care providers and insurance plans, will now manage drug delivery from any pharmacy in their service area by partnering with tech platform ScriptDrop.
For most people, Uber is synonymous with transportation, but a new development in their health wing could make them a household name for prescription management, too. According to a press statement released last week, Uber Health is expanding its operations to include prescription delivery. By partnering with health care software company ScriptDrop, Uber Health will deliver prescriptions from any NCPDP-registered pharmacy.
Uber Health, which has been on the market since 2018, hopes to take advantage of its existing transportation infrastructure in order to help patients get access to non-urgent care appointments. For instance, though patients in an emergency situation can call 911, those needing to get to a physical therapy appointment or a standard doctor’s visit could take advantage of Uber Health to handle their transportation. Moving forward, the company says they hope to expand operations further to include the delivery of health food and over-the-counter medicine. The company has already partnered with health care providers like Boston Medical Center.
Related: Amazon rolls out a $5-a-month prescription drug service (with free shipping)
“At Uber Health, we are building solutions that address lessons we’ve learned from years at health care companies operating in value-based care contracts. Too much time has been spent ensuring patients had a ride to their follow-up appointment, had picked up the right prescriptions, or had access to food,” said Caitlin Donovan, Global Head of Uber Health, in the press release.
The central goal of Uber Health, the press release suggests, is to improve health among patient populations by improving social determinants of health. “I’m proud to add a scalable prescription delivery solution to our platform that empowers care teams to fully close the loop,” Donovan says in the press release of the new features on Uber Health. “From prescription delivery and NEMT [non-emergency medical transportation] today to healthy food and grocery delivery in the coming months, Uber Health remains committed to delivering a more connected care journey through a single, seamless platform.”