Rideshare technology firm Uber recently announced a new service aimed at addressing the logistical challenges faced by family members and home care agencies when providing care for older adults aging in place.
Uber Caregiver, revealed last week, will allow users to designate a primary caregiver who can request transportation and deliveries on the user’s behalf. The service aims to alleviate some of the logistical burdens of caregiving, like coordinating rides to appointments or arranging grocery deliveries.
“The notion here is to be able to engage a caregiver in a loved one’s care journey,” Zachary Clark, chief growth officer of Uber Health, told McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse in an interview. “We’re really kind of cognizant and aware of the 50 million Americans across the United States that identify themselves as caregivers.”
He added, “If the care receiver isn’t an Uber user today, but Mom and Dad or a sibling is, this is a way to kind of help an individual navigate [their care].”
The service will begin rolling out by late July or early August, Clark said. By the end of 2024, Uber Health plans to add tools like over-the-counter medicine delivery capabilities to the Uber Caregiver platform. The company has already ventured into health product delivery services; Uber recently partnered with Reperio, a technology startup, allowing drivers to deliver health screening kits to and from patients’ homes.
Users will also be able to use healthcare benefits to pay for Uber Caregiver services. Uber Health is working with Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and commercial payers to allow their members to use their plan’s benefits to order rides or deliveries. This feature also gives consumers better visibility into their health plan’s offerings, which can often be confusing to navigate, Clark noted.
“You might be accessing an Uber, but that benefit might be managed through a third party broker. We want to be able to tell you that you have 22 out of your 24 rides left,” he explained. “Today all of that information resides in disparate places. And so combining that in a way that helps engage the member around what they have access to, we think, can be really powerful to create the right kinds of utilization that really we should see of these benefits. “
Home care and home health providers are uniquely positioned to use Uber Caregiver to their advantage, Clark said. The platform can make it easier for patients to engage with care services, he noted. It also allows family members to take a more active role in their loved one’s care, thereby reducing providers’ time spent on tasks like coordinating rides and deliveries, and increasing their opportunities for face-to-face interaction.
“Over time, it reduces the administrative burden for a home health or home care agency carries with them,” Clark said. “So by inviting the caregiver into that experience … it requires less of that home health or personal care coordinator over time, which helps them be more efficient and spend more time with the patient.”
