CBC Pathway Home bridges barriers to care with Uber Health

Launched in 2014 by Coordinated Behavioral Care (CBC), Pathway Home^TM is a collaborative program of 10 nonprofit organizations in New York City. Together, these organizations help transition New Yorkers—many of whom come from vulnerable and underserved populations—from institutional settings such as psychiatric hospitals or rehabilitation facilities back into their communities.  

Even with a large network of community partnerships working together to address individuals’ treatment and recovery needs, the Pathway Home^TM program has had a unique logistical challenge in managing efficient transportation programs for its members . While access to transportation is a well-known social determinant of health, members participating in the CBC Pathway Home^TM program tend to need extra help getting to and from medical appointments, important meetings, and community events due to barriers ranging from inclement weather to navigating complex public transportation systems to time constraints between program appointments. These challenges are compounded for members struggling with physical impairments or mental health disorders like anxiety.  

The CBC Pathway Home^TM team quickly realized that turning to emerging technology platforms like Uber could help alleviate this challenge for their members. In 2015, CBC Pathway Home^TM staff used the personal Uber app of a program director to connect members with drivers, who could drive them to various engagements and events. While this helped the program connect more members to the transportation they needed, staff could only request one scheduled ride at a time, and invoicing became an unnecessary hassle. The process ended up being arduous for the nonprofit employees, members, and their care providers. 

CBC’s Pathway Home^TM teams needed a scalable solution that could solve their transportation issues for multiple people and groups at once. That’s when they turned to Uber Health, Uber’s HIPAA-supported platform that allows healthcare organizations to connect to ride options that help improve their level of care and services. With Uber Health, staff members could request multiple scheduled rides at a time, communicate directly with drivers through the Uber Health platform, track rides to make sure members got where they needed to go, and streamline payment through one centralized, easy-to-use dashboard.

Members come to CBC Pathway Home^TM through state and city hospitals in the New York City area, and most program participants end up successfully completing the program and transitioning back into their communities. With Uber Health, CBC Pathway Home^TM can now coordinate rides for members, helping them get to and from medical and behavioral health appointments and other community activities necessary to remain stable in their community. Uber Health makes it possible for CBC Pathway Home^TM to provide greater access to transportation alternatives for everyone, regardless of where they live in the city—an important element for members who are re-entering life outside an inpatient or outpatient setting.

The impact has been incredible. From June 2018 to May 2019, 44% of Pathway Home^TM members using Uber Health did so because of health reasons, 29% because of safety concerns, 15% because of lack of adequate access to transportation, and 8% because of anxiety. Without Uber Health, these members may not have been able to find rides to and from the appointments and program events necessary to transition back into their communities. This is especially true for those whose physical and mental health status prohibits them from feeling comfortable taking more public forms of transportation.  

“Many of our members are exhausted with onerous schedules or are struggling with their mental health and have difficulty making it to appointments on time or at all because of the uncertainty around how they’ll get a ride,” says Barry Granek, a Senior Director at CBC Pathway Home^TM. “Uber Health helps members reduce hour-long train rides to just 20 minutes, making it more likely for members to make those appointments while simultaneously helping remove some of the burden.” 

By using the Uber Health platform, CBC Pathway Home^TM can provide members with a more flexible travel option to meet their varying needs—and an effective, more seamless pathway back to community living.  

Today, CBC Pathway Home^TM assists members at their most critical moments with support from Uber Health. In a study conducted from June 2018 to May 2019, it was found that of the members able to access transportation through Uber Health, 75% either completed or graduated from the program, or remained involved in order to get the help they needed. With Uber Health, CBC Pathway Home^TM can provide more accessible transportation for the members who need it most, helping them get to more appointments with less worry and stress. 

Uber Health is proud to help CBC improve care outcomes among its most at-risk Pathway Home^TM members. By increasing access to more flexible transportation solutions, CBC is able to continue delivering on its mission to help people across New York City reintegrate into their communities.

Since 2018, Uber Health’s HIPAA-supported solution has helped enable access to care and services for healthcare organizations focused on population health management. By tapping into Uber’s logistics expertise, Uber Health helps connect millions to the care they need. More than 3,000 healthcare customers trust Uber Health to provide access to options for stress-free transportation and critical deliveries, helping streamline population health management and supporting better patient outcomes. For more information, visit uberhealth.com.