The Impact of Ridesharing Platforms on Healthcare Access

Abstract

The vast majority of people in the United States do not access the recommended healthcare services, costing the country an estimated $55 billion annually in missed prevention opportunities. Healthcare access is especially critical for older patients, who face higher risks of adverse health outcomes when issues go undetected. The rise of ridesharing platforms has been proposed as a potential solution to help patients access healthcare appointments. This paper investigates the impact of ridesharing on healthcare access for Medicare patients in Austin, Texas, using two exogenous shocks—the exit and re-entry of Uber and Lyft in May 2016 and 2017. Comparing data from Medicare Part D claims in Austin and other Texas cities, we find that while Uber and Lyft’s initial exit had little effect, their re-entry led to an 8.0% decrease in total claims filed by providers. We show that providers with higher percentages of low-income patients, those treating high-risk patients, and those less accessible by public transport were disproportionately affected. We also explore two key drivers behind this effect: first, ridesharing led to increased traffic, which may have made healthcare visits more inconvenient; second, the re-entry of Uber and Lyft negatively impacted nonprofit transportation services for older individuals and those with mobility challenges. Our findings suggest that ridesharing platforms, aided by federal funding, need to devote more resources to bridging the gap between the transportation they offer and the nonprofit transportation they seem to be replacing.

Keywords: Healthcare Operations, Healthcare Access, Platform Operations, Empirical Operations, Natural Experiment