How ChenMed reduced no-shows by 20% with Lyft Assisted
INDUSTRY | HEALTHCARE
Challenge
ChenMed, a leading primary care provider focused on providing accessible care to seniors, wanted to improve the patient transportation experience and reduce the number of missed appointments.
Solution
By making use of Lyft Assisted—a new offering within Lyft Concierge—ChenMed was able to transform their patients’ experience to and from appointments and improve access to care for seniors.
Impact
- Reduced no-shows by 20%
- Boosted transportation survey score from the 80s to above 90, reflecting increased customer satisfaction
- Scored an average ride rating of 4.99 stars
- Success led to adoption at nearly 80 ChenMed centers within 3 months
ChenMed is reimagining healthcare for seniors through its partnership with Lyft.
As a leading primary care provider, ChenMed’s mission is to bring affordable, accessible care to seniors and drive better health outcomes.
ChenMed prides itself on providing a high-touch primary care model that fosters doctor-patient relationships and healthier, happier seniors. In short, it wants to give its patients VIP treatment. Yet, getting patients to appointments was often an overly burdensome and complex problem. ChenMed realized transportation played an integral part in VIP-care–and sought out an innovative transportation solution to deliver on its mission.
The challenge
Getting patients to and from medical appointments is no easy feat. For years, ChenMed operated its own van service to help transport patients. But it became evident that this approach did not meet their commitment to providing a VIP-level of care for their seniors.
Coordinating transportation modes like vans involve countless steps and a high volume of operational overhead. For instance, ChenMed Care Facilitators are responsible for manually contacting patients as a way to assist and gain visibility throughout the patient journey. And it was not a foolproof process.
“Patients complained the [company van] service wasn’t timely,” said Dr. Nehal Gheewala, ChenMed’s National Director of Growth. “It wasn’t individualized, and there were a lot of errors and missteps because there was no live tracking. So, we ran into a lot of issues in regards to patient appointments.”
ChenMed realized they needed a scalable, reliable, and more individualized transportation solution to meet their VIP-level of care for a wide range of patients. They also needed a way to empower staff to shift their focus to patient care and prevention without any disruptions. So, ChenMed turned to Lyft to break traditional molds and improve the patient experience.
“Our patient experience doesn’t start when they get to the office, it starts when they get in the car. And that’s what we love about rideshare. Lyft wants to help seniors and improve the health equity of the communities that we serve. ”
— Dr. Nehal Gheewala, ChenMed’s National Director of Growth
The opportunity
ChenMed is not alone when it comes to experiencing transportation barriers in providing access to care. Today, nearly 6 million Americans delay or miss medical appointments entirely due to a lack of transportation.
“When you think about delivering VIP care, transportation is a huge social determinant of health that can actually prevent people from getting access to care, particularly the seniors that are most vulnerable in our country,” said John Alldredge, Vice President of Operations at ChenMed.
In late 2021, ChenMed and Lyft partnered to address the transportation gaps that caused variability in the patient experience.
“We want seniors to live healthier lives, and it all starts with the ability to get into the [doctor’s] office,” said Alldredge. “So from a transportation perspective, the chance to partner together with Lyft to innovate and find those opportunities of delivering better health for our seniors is tremendously valuable.”
Alldredge notes nearly 50% of ChenMed’s patient population do not have reliable access to transportation and need help getting to their medical appointments. Being able to offer rideshare as a solution would prove to be the tipping point in achieving VIP-level care for the company.
“Our goal is to reach seniors who otherwise wouldn't be able to reach us. And despite their social determinants of health, we try to do everything to bridge the divide between health and equity," said Gheewala. “Transportation is one of the key areas of focus. If we can provide excellent transportation that's timely, efficient, friendly, and most of all, makes the patient want to come back and see us to achieve better health, we’ve done our job.”
Simply put, ChenMed recognized transportation is a key component to unlocking value-based care success. With access to reliable transportation patients can get to the care they need and providers can focus on what they do best, delivering world class care.
The solution
As a leader in senior-based primary care, ChenMed was the flagship partner in launching Lyft Assisted, an offering in Concierge for riders who want a little extra help getting from their door to their destination.
Lyft Assisted rides can be scheduled ahead of time or on-demand to allow for smoother pickups. Riders will have a few extra minutes to connect with their drivers, helping to reduce missed connections and enhance the rider experience.
The driver can then provide light assistance to the rider, which may include providing an arm, elbow, or hand for assisting with stability, opening and closing doors, and storing small personal belongings.
Lyft Assisted serves a wide range of riders, which include: people who might want a few extra minutes to get to the car or a hand getting to and from medical appointments, people who might have a hard time finding a rideshare vehicle, such as elderly patients, people who might have some difficulty seeing or hearing, or people who might be unsteady on their feet.
Within just a few months, ChenMed began to see positive results. They expanded their transportation footprint with Lyft Assisted to nearly 80 of their centers. They incurred fewer missed appointments, reporting a nearly 20% reduction in no-show rates when compared to standard Concierge healthcare rides. Most importantly, patients were satisfied with the service, giving an average of 4.99 stars for their rides.
“Lyft Assisted has boosted our patients’ satisfaction with transportation tremendously. Our transportation survey score went from the 80s to above 90 in the markets where we have Lyft Assisted, which is a huge success,” said Gheewala.
ChenMed shared three lessons learned in creating a successful transportation program:
- Listening to patients and collecting feedback provided valuable insights on how to improve the patient experience
- Rolling out Lyft Assisted in a few markets initially helped to identify and troubleshoot unforeseen transportation gaps before expanding broadly
- Partnering with Lyft created an opportunity to build a customized transportation program that targeted ChenMed’s unique needs
Lyft Assisted demonstrates Lyft Healthcare’s commitment to serving this industry, our partners, and their members, added Buck Poropatich, Head of Lyft Healthcare.
“Lyft Healthcare understands transportation isn’t a one-size fits-all. We’re investing in our products and partnerships to increase our impact and play an expanded role in non-emergency medical transportation,” said Poropatich.
TOP BENEFITS INCLUDE
A helping hand
Drivers can provide light assistance to the rider, which may include providing an arm, elbow, or hand for assisting with stability, opening and closing doors, and storing personal belongings.
“Providing a little extra help actually has a tremendous impact not only on patient experience but on clinical outcomes.” - John Alldredge, Vice President of Operations at ChenMed
Drop in no-shows
Lyft Assisted launch partners have seen about 20% fewer no-shows than standard Concierge healthcare rides.
“Through Lyft, adding that extra layer of transparency and efficiency has been extremely beneficial not just to the patients, but also to the providers and the medical staff who are eagerly awaiting to see these folks when they come in, at the right place, at the right time.” - Dr. Nehal Gheewala, National Director of Growth at ChenMed
Uptick in patient satisfaction
Unreliable transportation to and from medical appointments has proven to be a root cause of many member experience issues. Through the Lyft partnership, ChenMed saw an increase in their patient satisfaction scores.
“After we rolled out Lyft, our senior patients shared how they’ve never enjoyed a ride to and from their doctor’s office more and can easily get to their appointments on time.” - Dr. Nehal Gheewala, National Director of Growth at ChenMed
Emerging innovation
It is not always smooth sailing when a patient has to rely on others for their transportation to and from medical appointments. But Lyft Assisted is a great option for a wide range of riders.
“When you deliver something that actually meets the patient’s needs and exceeds their expectations like the programs that we've been able to implement with Lyft, it actually drives a very significant relationship with a patient.” - John Alldredge, Vice President of Operations at ChenMed
Looking ahead
ChenMed sees Lyft Assisted, and its ability to provide much-needed assistance to the elderly population, as an incredibly valuable asset. Going forward, they plan to adopt it as one of their default methods of patient transportation.
"Continuing to push the boundaries of transportation for patient care, delivering VIP service that ultimately delivers better outcomes, better health for our seniors—that's the future of where we really wanna go," said Alldredge.
As a risk-bearing organization working almost exclusively in Medicare Advantage, ChenMed assumes full responsibility
for a defined population of seniors and their health outcomes. ChenMed’s model of care includes assessing a patient’s
social determinants of health and addressing their full set of needs including coordinating transportation.
Related customer stories
See how Lyft Business helps other businesses transport their people.
How SafeRide Health reduced no-shows by 63% and call center volume by 30% with flexible rides
How AmeriHealth Caritas DC, Access2Care and Lyft team up to get patients to the care they need
