Uber Health expanding delivery assortment

The healthcare arm of Uber is adding new items to the range of products it will deliver to patients.

Uber, which initially expanded from its core rideshare business into third-party online delivery with the launch of Uber Eats in 2015, will use the Uber Eats service to facilitate grocery and over-the-counter (OTC) medication delivery via its centralized HIPAA-enabled Uber Health platform.

Uber Health already provides delivery of prescription medications, as well as non-emergency medical transportation. The platform will specifically offer delivery of food and OTC products that are part of healthcare program supplemental benefits, such as prescriptions for fresh produce.

According to Uber Health, supplemental benefits are increasingly common components of value-based care and population health programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, but are complex to administer and execute, and may leave patients needing to coordinate their own shopping trips.

The Uber Health platform enables visibility and streamlined benefit coordination between payers and providers. Soon, providers will have access to patient benefit data and eligibility files from payers, allowing them to leverage existing benefit structures and deploy services that can be covered by insurance.

“Value-based care is the future of healthcare, but it’s complex and labor-intensive to deliver and scale. Uber Health addresses this challenge head-on,” said Caitlin Donovan, global head of Uber Health. “Our platform streamlines coordination across multiple benefits—non-emergency medical transportation, prescription delivery, and food and over-the-counter medication delivery, empowering payers and providers to support patients beyond the four walls of a medical office. And, because our platform is built on the largest mobility network in the world, we’re uniquely capable of meeting these needs and unlocking the potential of value-based care at scale.”

[Read more: Is Uber going all in on being an e-commerce platform?]

Uber launched Uber Health in 2018. The service partners with more than 3,000 healthcare customers, such as Boston Medical Center and ModivCare. Uber Health leverages Uber’s logistics capabilities, and its API and dashboard are able to facilitate mobility solutions and deliveries.

Uber Eats leverages Uber’s technology and logistics capabilities to partner with 825,000 retailers in more than 11,000 cities globally, with an average delivery time the company says is under 30 minutes.