It's not just about patients and insurance coverage or transporting patients to medical appointments. Now the world of research has entered the scene. Where pharmaceutical giants are now financing the transportation of research subjects to clinical trial sites.
ClinOne is a mobile clinical trial management company that helps pharmaceutical companies reach patients and trail subjects by providing a transportation platform solution. Trial subjects are usually patients unless a double-blind trial is set up with healthy subjects as well. Thee trial participants enroll through the ClinOne ClinConnect platform and once enrolled are legible for free transportation to and from their homes to the clinic center.
The new collaboration between ClinOne and rideshare companies will give their subjects access to a free Uber, and Lyft ride to and from the trial center and the process will be integrated into both company's apps, allowing auto-invoicing to occur as and when a ride is requested and performed.
One of the main reasons behind this new collaboration is due to the missed trial occurrence when subjects did not meet the time of the trial schedule due to transportation issues. The management of logistics has always been a major issue with trial subject management. Now, with this new integrated system. The logistics side will be solved, as it becomes automated.
One large sub-group of subjects are the aged, and there has always been an issue with transporting aged, especially those with movement handicaps. Add to this the fact that many aged do not have smartphones; the new system bypasses this issue. Making it an automated process where the aged only need to wait for the car to arrive.
ClinOne CEO, Rob Bohacs stated to the press that "It's easy to lose track of how complex this process may be for a single study. For example, a phase III study could have 2,000 patients enrolled for 36 months, and each patient needs to come in for a monthly visit. That's 72,000 patient visits and 144,000 trips – a staggering number. We simplify the process for patients, families, and provide a true concierge service to patients, which is crucial to our mission. The cost of these services is not prohibitive compared to standard reimbursements for travel and parking time. This can average $35 per visit per patient, while Lyft and Uber costs would range from $22 round trip to $45 for most patients."
ClinOne performs over 2,600 studies in 50 countries worldwide. It is only one of many such companies, and this new service opens a new source of income to both Uber and Lyft in the US, and to Uber abroad.
The cost to the industry when a patient misses a treatment schedule is staggering, and it can provide a massive x50 impact on trial cost. Another study found that subjects who were satisfied with all the scheduling process tended to stay for the full course of the study.