Article

Why Healthcare and Hospitality Companies Should Partner With Lyft

January 1, 2020
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The rideshare company Lyft is on the forefront of disrupting transportation and changing how people travel. It’s more than a low-cost transportation network that gets riders from Point A to Point B. Lyft can be a strategic asset for companies like physician offices, ambulatory surgery centers, hotels and others that want to help patients and customers easily travel to and from their places of business.

Jill Angelone, manager of healthcare partnerships for Lyft, explains how Provista members can use Lyft for a reliable and cost-effective service that drives new benefits—and how members earn cash rebates.

Q: Why should physicians and surgery centers consider partnering with Lyft?

A: Using our service is a quick and efficient way to get patients to their healthcare providers. This helps ensure they are not missing appointments and moving to a further disease state. We’re trying to tackle the social determinants of why someone would miss an appointment by creating programs for patients to come in and not worry about their family members or someone else having to drive them, especially for recurring appointments. Lyft allows patients to show up and leave on time. It’s good for business. Saving money and helping serve more patients is our general mission. We’re giving care providers time back for what they do best, which is saving lives rather than worrying about how a patient is going to get to and from appointments.

Q: How does the Lyft rideshare service work?

A: We use a web-based service called Lyft Concierge that lets you arrange a ride on behalf of someone else. They’re not using the consumer-grade app. Instead, there is a desktop version of Lyft that connects to our network of drivers. You schedule a ride for the patient, so the patient doesn’t need a smartphone, which is nice. If you have an elderly patient or someone who’s not technologically savvy, as long as their phone can receive an SMS text, which is pretty much every phone, they can get the Lyft service.

If your goal for 2020 is to mitigate missed appointments, like for oncology or dialysis, where you have patients coming in regularly, start there. We can roll out the service in that department, then move to other areas. In some cases, like for a large multifacility provider, we’ll see that a facility is rural. It’s hard to get to, so start there.

Q: What is Lyft doing to become more environmentally friendly?

A: One of our initiatives is to drive down our carbon footprint. This past year, Lyft has been one of the world’s largest voluntary purchasers of carbon offsets, which makes every Lyft ride carbon neutral. We can work with healthcare offices if they’re concerned about their carbon footprint.
We come at it with a consultative approach. We ask, “What are your initiatives? How can we incorporate this service into your department to tackle your initiatives?”

Q: Are there different levels for providers to utilize your service?

A: A physician’s office won’t have the same need as a surgery center. When we’re working with a health system, we can provide our service as an initiative for discharged patients. It’s a way to see the ROI immediately by comparing to how much you’re spending on taxi vouchers. Lyft can be30% to 50% cheaper than your average taxi. If you’re a physician’s office or an ambulatory surgery center, savings depend on what you’re currently doing. We ask, “Do you have money set aside for discharged patients?” Or, “Do you have money you’d like to put toward this as an initiative?”

Q: Can rideshare be a differentiator for facilities?

A: Patients feel like the cars are nicer, faster and get them to where they need to go right away. In terms of patients saying they chose a provider because of Lyft, I haven’t heard that, but the feedback is very positive about the patient experience we’re providing.

Q: What business benefits can a Lyft partnership provide to hospitality companies?

A: Outside of our Concierge service, we have a business-grade version of our consumer app. Think of it like a plug-in to our existing application where you can toggle between business and personal mode.

If you’re a hotel and want your employees to use Lyft when traveling for business, they can toggle in business mode, sign in under their email address and use their business form of payment, and it automatically connects to expense tools and reports. Every time they take a ride, the receipt shoots to an open expense report or opens one for them. You’re helping people who travel a lot for business be more efficient by spending less time on expense reports, and Lyft is usually faster than other services.

Q: Do you have a rewards program for customers?

A: When you choose Lyft, you get rewards. Every dollar spent in your business mode goes toward points like Delta Sky Miles or Hilton Honors Rewards. We also provide “call codes,” which are like virtual gift cards. You plug the code into your Lyft app for a certain amount of dollars. Some hotels do this for VIP guests. If you go to a certain property as a VIP, you get this $25 Lyft credit, or whatever amount you choose, to go back and forth to the airport. Hotels are using this service to replace their shuttles.

Q: How can Provista members take advantage of the contract with Lyft?

A: All they have to do is opt in to our agreement with Provista through a portal. They fill out their information at go.lyftbusiness.com/vizient and are then connected to my team. Through Provista, members get $3 million in insurance on top of our Gold Standard $1 million policy. They also get a 1% rebate on their rides. Our mission is to improve people’s lives with the worlds’ best transportation. Working with Provista gives us access to so many members who can help with that mission. 

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