Dignity Health offers on-demand healthcare to Uber drivers
Dignity Health and GoHealth Urgent Care have partnered to offer Uber drivers and their families personalised care at clinics in the San Francisco Bay Area. The deal will afford Uber drivers, who are responsible for their own medical coverage, the opportunity to pay for care in cash with a discount, as well as offering access to a "health education and wellness programme". Currently, the project covers four clinics in the Bay Area, but will expand to seven by the end of the year. Meanwhile Dignity Health plans to roll out the programme to Uber drivers in Portland and New York.

Dignity Health, the nation's sixth-largest health system by revenue, and its partner GoHealth Urgent Care are honing their on-demand skills by offering at-your-fingertips healthcare to Uber drivers and their families.

Starting Wednesday, Dignity and GoHealth Urgent Care will offer personalized and tech-enabled care to Uber drivers and their families at urgent-care clinics in the San Francisco Bay Area. Drivers with the ride-sharing service and their families can skip lines by scheduling urgent-care appointments through an online and mobile platform.

And while San Francisco-based Dignity Health has contracted with several health insurance plans, the partnership will allow Uber drivers with other types of insurance or high-deductible plans to pay with cash at a discount. Uber drivers are independent contractors and therefore are responsible for their own insurance coverage. Rich Roth, Dignity Health's chief strategic innovation officer, declined to disclose the price they will be offered, but said it's less expensive than other avenues of care.

Finally, Uber drivers and their families can access a health education and wellness program that initially will provide flu shots with no out-of-pocket costs. Moving forward, Roth said the program will offer classes on chronic-disease management, ergonomics to help drivers avoid neck and back pain, and enrolling in health insurance exchange plans.

“We think by designing and delivering specific programs to these driver partners and their families, that we are going to be able to learn how to be more customer-friendly, personalized and convenient … and over time glean things that can transform healthcare moving forward,” Roth said.

The network of urgent-care centers now includes four in the Bay Area and will expand to seven by year-end. Dignity Health plans to extend the program to Uber drivers in New York and Portland, Ore., with GoHealth Urgent Care, as well other Dignity Health locations across California, Arizona and Nevada over time, Roth said.

Dignity Health is a 39-hospital system with more than 9,000 physicians and 400 care centers. Atlanta-based GoHealth Urgent Care operates 50 centers in New York, Portland, and San Francisco.