In an effort to help concrete customer satisfaction, CVS and Walgreens with pat Blue Cross Blue Shield Institute members (BCBS) that live in select "transportation deserts" with sponsored Lyft ride to their nearest Walgreens and CVS pharmacies for collecting prescriptions. CVS will pilot their program in Pittsburgh, while Walgreens tests theirs out in Chicago.
BCBS intends to provide members that live in areas far from CVS and Walgreen pharmacies with paid for transportation assistance. This comes after BCBS's 2017 incentive providing their members with free Lyft rides to doctor's appointments. This no-cost transportation solution is now expanding to include free access to medication as well as diagnosis and treatment.
BCBS CEO Scott Serota released a statement saying that "For some of our members, it can be difficult to get to a physician's office for treatment, to the pharmacy for much-needed medication, to the grocery store for nutritious food or to a safe place to exercise."
The company's new initiative comes at a time when they intend to reduce costs and improve outcomes for their members. It is part of their new corporate culture to move away from fee-for-service-based medicine and into value-based healthcare and demographic health models.
Dr. Troyen Brennan, Chief Medical Officer of CVS, backed up BCBS’s statement by saying “We are committed to addressing issues that are inextricably linked to health outcomes and which are greatly improved when people have access to pharmacies.”
Walgreens also made a statement to the same effect, Nimesh Jhaveri, Walgreens VP for Health Services said, "This initiative brings greater access to populations in need, and we look forward to bringing our growing range of pharmacy and health services to a larger population."
The initiative is backed up by solid data, BSBC holds data on over 106million members and the details reach down to the zip code level. This enables BSBC to effectively map every member and provide assistance based on location as well as socio-economic status.