CareFinders Total Care announced Wednesday it has teamed up with LogistiCare, a non-emergency medical transportation company, to provide transportation services to caregivers working in the home. Ride-hailing giant Lyft Inc. (Nasdaq: LYFT) is also involved with the partnership.
Founded in 1995, Hackensack, New Jersey-based CareFinders provides in-home care services to more than 8,500 patients throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. It has 26 offices in total.
Meanwhile, LogistiCare is one of the largest managers of non-emergency medical transportation programs for state government agencies and managed care organizations. The company’s service lines include call center management, transportation provider network development, ride management and credentialing.
Under the partnership, CareFinders’ caregivers can request Lyft rides through LogistiCare.
The services offered through the partnership are a response to the public transportation challenges that stem from the COVID-19 emergency. The aim is to make sure that caregivers have safe and reliable access to transportation, according to Care Finders leadership.
“As the largest home care services provider in the state of New Jersey, transportation is always top of mind for us,” Martha Stuart Williams, chief operating officer of CareFinders, told Home Health Care News in an email. “LogistiCare and Lyft brought a technology-centric and patient-centric solution for what is a persistent issue for many home care providers, particularly during a time as challenging as the pandemic.”
The partnership has its roots in a contract between LogistiCare and the New Jersey Department of Human Services.
“This partnership began when LogistiCare started delivering food to those in need during the pandemic,” Kenneth Wilson, chief operating officer at LogistiCare, told HHCN. “This was in addition to our New Jersey state contract to provide non-emergency transportation for Medicaid patients to their medical appointments.”
LogistiCare learned about CareFinders’ transportation needs via conversations with New Jersey’s Medicaid director, Wilson noted.
“We reached out to CareFinders, and they expressed an interest in working together, so we agreed to create and launch a pilot program, which has been very successful,” he said.
For CareFinders, LogistiCare’s willingness to work with front-line care teams in communities hardest hit by COVID-19 made the company an attractive partner, according to Williams.
“They stepped up as a willing partner, providing reliable transportation for some of our most vulnerable caregivers in the midst of the COVID-19 shutdown,” she said. “That’s super important to us, because Total Care at CareFinders is about supporting our caregivers first and foremost so they can care for our clients.”
Overall, Williams believes that the partnership between LogistiCare, Lyft and CareFinders has allowed them to provide consistent care services.
“At the end of the day, this partnership allows us to provide care to patients who otherwise might have been unable to receive care,” she said. “As a company dedicated to changing lives day in and day out, this partnership has become a tremendous asset for us.”
Additionally, LogistiCare is in talks with other home care providers about potential partnerships.
On its end, Lyft has increasingly gotten involved in the health care space, especially around home-based care. Many home-based care agencies use Lyft to coordinate transportation services for both caregivers and clients.
In total, CareFinders employs more than 7,.600 certified home health aides, plus more than 180 RNs and LPNs.
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