Uber Health to launch grocery, OTC medication delivery

Uber Health, the delivery platform’s healthcare arm, is getting into the grocery-delivery business.

Uber Health will soon add delivery of food and over-the-counter medications to its HIPAA-enabled platform, to be delivered by Uber Eats, the tech company announced Tuesday.

“The first-of-its-kind platform will simplify and enhance the entire patient journey—from getting to a primary care appointment to accessing critical prescriptions and groceries,” San Francisco-based Uber said in a statement.

The latest move expands on Uber Health’s announcement in March that it would begin same-day delivery of prescription medications.

Under the latest offering, Uber Health will deliver groceries as prescribed under “food-as-medicine” programs. Such programs are being used by some healthcare systems around the country to prevent illness and manage chronic conditions.

“As food-as-medicine programs increase in prevalence and yield promising early results, Uber Health’s expansion into grocery and OTC item delivery provides healthcare organizations yet another powerful lever to enhance the patient experience, improve health outcomes and fully ‘close the loop’ on patient care,” Uber noted. “This is especially necessary for homebound patients and those who live in food deserts—areas where accessing groceries can be particularly challenging.”

Uber said the new program relies on the delivery company’s existing grocery-delivery infrastructure around the country.

Uber began grocery delivery in July 2020, at the height of the pandemic, saying at the time that it realized “it’s becoming increasingly clear that grocery delivery is not only popular, but often a necessity.”

Uber Health launched in 2018 as a business primarily focused on non-emergency medical appointments, ferrying people to and from the doctor’s office. But Uber said transportation is “only one piece of the patient-care puzzle.”

The company said it has seen surging demand for its healthcare services, with a 75% increase in gross bookings for patient transport and deliveries from the first quarter of 2022 to the same period this year.

“Value-based care is the future of healthcare, but it’s complex and labor-intensive to deliver and scale. Uber Health addresses this challenge head-on,” Caitlin Donovan, global head of Uber Health, said in a statement. “Our platform streamlines coordination across multiple benefits—non-emergency medical transportation, prescription delivery, and food and over-the-counter medication delivery, empowering payers and providers to support patients beyond the four walls of a medical office. And, because our platform is built on the largest mobility network in the world, we’re uniquely capable of meeting these needs and unlocking the potential of value-based care at scale.”