Uber Health adds grocery, over-the-counter item delivery

The healthcare arm of transportation company Uber, dubbed Uber Health, announced it is adding grocery and over-the-counter product delivery to its offerings. 

Facilitated by Uber Eats, providers and payers can have groceries and over-the-counter items delivered directly to a patient’s home. The company touts the offering as simplifying the entire patient journey, from getting patients to medical appointments to accessing groceries. 

In April, the company announced it was adding same-day prescription delivery services to its platform thanks to an integration with ScriptDrop, where users could manage the delivery of a prescription from a pharmacy within their service area and track when their medication will arrive. 

“I came to Uber because we are uniquely positioned to provide access to a myriad of supplemental benefits that are required to care for patients outside the four walls of a clinic — non-emergency medical transportation, same-day prescription delivery, and grocery and over-the-counter good delivery. We have now created a one-stop shop for care coordinators to not only enable physical access to care but also make transparent how to navigate the complexities of insurance benefit design.” Caitlin Donovan, global head of Uber Health, told MobiHealthNews in an email.

THE LARGER TREND

In 2020, Uber Health partnered with on-demand digital prescription platform NimbleRx to include pharmaceutical delivery through its platform in Seattle and Dallas.

Last year, the company partnered with Walgreens and DoorDash to deliver Paxlovid, an oral antiviral therapy for COVID-19, to underserved communities. Eligible patients living in disadvantaged communities could receive free delivery of their Paxlovid prescriptions on Walgreens.com or through the Walgreens app.  

Other companies offering grocery delivery services to providers and patients are Instacart Health, the health division of grocery delivery service Instacart, and tech-enabled food delivery company FarmboxRx, which recently announced the launch of Feed by FarmboxRx, an application-based program to supply individuals affected by cuts to SNAP benefits with produce and pantry staples.