Ride-hailing giants target healthcare transportation market

The news

Last week, ride-hailing company Lyft announced Buck Poropatich as its new Head of Healthcare. “I’m excited to lead Lyft Healthcare as the organization continues to invest in products and services to meet healthcare transportation needs and maintain its leadership position in the industry,” said Poropatich in a statement.

It’s nothing new that tech giants Apple, Alphabet, and Amazon are targeting the healthcare market. But mobility players also want a piece of the cake—specifically, the market for nonemergency medical transportation. 

The background

In April, Lyft launched the Lyft Pass for Healthcare, a service that allows patients to schedule rides to destinations like medical appointments, vaccinations, and prescription pickups. Healthcare organizations sponsoring the pass can customize the offering, monitor usage, and manage spend. 

Uber, Lyft’s biggest ride-sharing competitor, launched the service Uber Health in 2018 to provide nonemergency medical transportation in partnership with more than 1,000 healthcare organizations. Both companies also experiment in other healthcare-related areas like senior care and prescription deliveries.

The bigger picture

The broader healthcare transportation market, which includes areas like intra-hospital logistics, is worth close to $80 billion. Non-emergency medical transportation alone is a market with more than $7.5 billion in volume, mainly dominated by the taxi industry. In Germany, 75% of medical transports are carried out with taxis and rental cars.

Our perspective

We believe healthcare transportation needs will evolve with the changing healthcare landscape. So far, we primarily see patients being transported to clinics. This market will certainly decrease as telemedicine becomes more widespread. On the other hand, we see that treatment is moving out of clinics and into patients' homes. This offers potential for healthcare transportation services in the opposite direction—with innovative new players entering the billion-dollar market.