(2019-08-16) Older People Need Rides Why Arent They Using Uber And Lyft

Older People Need Rides. Why Aren’t They Using Uber and Lyft? Ride-hailing — and, one day, autonomous vehicles — are game-changers, said David Lindeman, who directs health programs at the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society at the University of California, Berkeley

ride-hailing companies aren’t waiting around for more older adults to grow adept with their phones.

Lyft and Uber and others are contracting with third parties, bypassing the need for older riders to use apps or to have smartphones at all.

They’re joining forces with health care systems, for instance. In the past 18 months, more than 1,000 — including MedStar, in the Washington area, and the Boston Medical Center — have signed on with Uber Health for “nonemergency medical transportation,” the company said.

*Case managers and social workers can use Uber or Lyft to ferry patients to or from clinics and offices, reducing missed appointments.

“Hospitals may spend millions on taxi vouchers,” said Dan Trigub, who heads Uber Health. “Uber is cheaper, and we see higher patient satisfaction.”*

at Brookdale Senior Living, the nation’s largest (ALF) chain, as well as several other chains and communities, the front desk staff can call Lyft for residents, either billing the resident or rolling the cost into the monthly fee.

The Lyft and Uber apps can dispatch wheelchair-accessible vans in several cities. In 20 cities, Uber Assist trains drivers to provide extra help for people using canes, walkers and folding wheelchairs, though riders must still be able to enter and leave the car on their own.

In the Bay Area, though, frail older people can get “door-through-door” services from 12-year-old SilverRide. Its trained, vetted drivers escort riders out of their homes, help them transfer into and out of the car, and then accompany them to their specific destinations.

Another smaller player, GoGo Grandparent, piggybacks on Uber and Lyft, hiring operators who can take riders’ requests on standard telephones, via push button menu, or by voice.

That raises a key question: Will ride-hailing be too expensive for many seniors?

Some Medicare Advantage programs now cover rides to medical appointments and pharmacies; Lyft expects to partner with most Advantage plans by next year, Mr. Renwick said. But most older Americans still use traditional Medicare, which doesn’t cover such transportation.

“it’s got great potential,” Joseph Coughlin, director of the M.I.T. AgeLab, said of ride-hailing. “There’s been so painfully little innovation in transportation for the aging population that anything we do can only be an improvement.”