Uber Health Announces Grocery, Over-the-Counter Prescription Delivery Service

When patients order, coordinators can customize programs to patients’ specific health needs, giving them the tools they need to lead healthier lives and enhancing the overall patient experience.© GOD ENTERTAINMENT - stock.adobe.com

Patients will soon be able to have healthy groceries and over-the-counter prescriptions delivered to their doors through Uber’s healthcare component, Uber Health.

A centralized HIPAA-enabled platform, Uber Health currently provides non-emergency medical transportation and prescription delivery to patients through the help of payers and providers.

The announcement was made today by the healthcare platform whose efforts are to simplify and enhance the entire patient journey — from primary care appointments to soon-to-be accessing critical prescriptions and groceries.

The new service reflects Uber Health’s initiative to address some of the industry’s greatest insecurities and deliver better experiences across the healthcare ecosystem.

In fact, the delivery service, is a benefit critical in value-based care and population health programs. Though these benefits are helpful in accessing crucial healthcare needs, some providers and payers lack the infrastructure to execute them effectively, according to the release. Patients can be eligible for these benefits, but many may still be responsible to find their own form of transportation to and from appointments, for example, or navigate their care on their own.

Caitlin Donovan, Global Head of Uber Health noted in the release that value-based care is the future of healthcare but can be challenging to deliver. Uber Health works to address that challenge by streamlining coordination across multiple avenues.

The services Uber Health is offering is “empowering payers and providers to support patients beyond the four walls of a medical office,” Donovan said. “And, because our platform is built on the largest mobility network in the world, we’re uniquely capable of meeting these needs and unlocking the potential of value-based care at scale.”

The transparent-intended platform is expected to give providers access to patient benefit data and eligibility information from payers, which can improve existing benefit structures and offer services covered by insurance. This service is working to increase convenience, provide holistic and effective patient care, and increase member satisfaction, the release said.

Outside of quality, Uber Health is working to reveal the benefits of the “food as medicine” initiative. Food as medicine can manage preventative and chronic care, reduce acute incidents, minimize costs across the system and lead to better health outcomes, the release said.

According to a JAMA Network study, nationwide implementation of healthy meal deliveries could eliminate 1.6 million hospitalizations annually, resulting in a cost-savings of $13.6 billion a year for payers.

In addition, an August 2021 Kaiser Permanente study, revealed adults with previously diagnosed with heart failure, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease who received home-delivered meals; nutritional counseling and were discharged from 5 Kaiser Permanente hospitals between April 2020 and June 2021; were less likely to be hospitalized within 90 days than those who received usual care.

Uber Health’s efforts to encourage food for medicine nationwide can help improve health outcomes, enhance patient experience, and close gaps in patient care and food insecurities.

According to Uber Health, when patients order, coordinators can customize programs to patients’ specific health needs, giving them the tools they need to lead healthier lives and enhancing the overall patient experience.