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Cities With Uber Have Lower Rates Of Ambulance Usage (npr.org)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Many potential emergency room patients are too sick to drive themselves to a hospital. But an ambulance can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars without insurance. This where a popular ride-sharing app can step in, while also freeing up the ambulances for those who need them most. With demand for ambulances decreased by available Uber drivers, emergency personnel have been able reach critical patients faster while also applying necessary treatment on the way to the hospital, according to a new economic study from the University of Kansas: "Given that even a reduction of a few minutes can drastically improve survival rates for serious conditions, this could be associated with a substantial welfare improvement." The study investigated ambulance rates in 766 U.S. cities from 43 different states. Taking into account the timelines of when Uber entered each city, the researchers found that the app reduced per capita ambulance usage rates by around 7 percent.
I wonder how much the mortality rate has crept up from people who should have used ambulances calling an Uber instead, and arriving at the hospital later and in worse condition than they otherwise would have? Who is going to do that study?
Uber must be rejoicing over this "free advertising."
You see, when it comes to "ride sharing" all media talk about is "Uber," "Uber" and more "Uber."
It's as if the other more than 10 ride sharing companies/services just do not exist!
Sounds like a third world country.
In many suburban and rural areas, Taxi service is unavailable or prohibitively expensive. A Taxi company cannot profitably operate in such areas, however a lone Uber or Lift driver can. With the big name of Uber and Lift to back them up so they don't need to advertise and sell themselves. They can just drive.
Not Magic, but franchising.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
"But an ambulance can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars without insurance. "
I'm European and I can't believe my eyes.
First, here _everybody_ is insured, even the bums living under a bridge.
Second, an ambulance ride costs around 150$ if some uninsured foreigner ordered one.
I guess you're doing it wrong.
An ambulance ride can cost $1000 even if you have insurance.
Presented with a transportation option previously depressed by the city overlords
So these cities refused to allow taxis to operate prior to Uber? I doubt it. Even though they may be more expensive than Uber, they would still be far cheaper than an ambulance ride. So is Uber truly the savior of humanity this study wants us to believe, or are there maybe other factors that they missed/ignored in their effort to show Uber in a good light?
Then the Uber drivers should be trained to ask them to go to the Urgent Centers, which may be closer by, and cheaper. As they are Doctors offices without an appointment. Who can treat most issues.
Here in Canada, taxi drivers are required to have first aid (Class A or C) before they can drive for a company. Class A is CPR+emerg first aid+AED training on individuals aged 8+, Class C is the above + infant CPR. While taxis don't carry AED's, almost all municipal buildings have an AED that anyone can get to in an emergency.
Uber pushes that it's not a taxi company, it pushes that it doesn't have to follow the rules that taxi drivers are required to have. They don't want to play by the same rules that the other taxi companies have to deal with, and that's one of the reasons they're continually being hit by regulators. Until that changes and they finally get in line that they are indeed a taxi company, and their drivers actually have to follow the same rules they can piss right off.
Om, nomnomnom...
In a country where not all Emergency visits are life threatening, but the patient cannot drive. We don't need a Semi truck to move a single chair. We don't need an ambulance to move every person who needs to go to the ED.
It is about efficiency. And saving resources for those who need it.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Taxis are not as available in non-urban areas, while Uber and Lift are.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Taxi licensing laws are killing children.
This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
The problem with people going to the ED, is the fact that they are not going for a real emergency, but an urgent visit or just see a doctor without a schedule.
Obviously you are a learned doctor that knows all the the possible health conditions and how they should be managed and treated. Please enlighten us more...
There are plenty of issues that are not life threatening which can not be treated by urgent care. There are also plenty of conditions that complicate less severe issues which make having access to a full hospital's resources the better choice. There are also plenty of areas where urgent care facilities don't exist (or are run by a specific group that do not accept non-members).
There are plenty of people that waste the ER's time for things like non-critical flu/cold symptoms and the like, but to argue the patient being able to drive themselves or not is ludicrously naive.
Community services a) are meant to be used; and b) get better, cheaper, and more effective the more we use them.
This 7% signifies three things:
1) that some people were calling for ambulances when they didn't need any medical care en-route to the hospital. Ambulances aren't taxis. These people should have been taking taxis or asking a neighbour to drive them. You don't need to pay a stranger to help you. You live with others.
2) that there are some people calling uber when they should be calling an ambulance. Medical issues can get worse en-route, especially with added delays and random things that can happen -- accidents, weather, traffic, jostling, tripping, indigestion, et cetera. Expert medical professionals are a good idea when there's already something seriously wrong with you (serious enough for a hospital visit) simply to ensure that nothing else happens to you also. Like my doctor says, once you're sick, you can still get another sickness too.
3) your ambulances are far too expensive. Ours cost $45 - Canadian Dollars. Always. That's it. And you won't get the bill for about a month. That's a driver, two paramedics in the back with you, the ambulance itself, and nothin' but green lights all the way. It's cheaper than a taxi -- as it damn well should be! Strangers pull over, delaying their plans, whatever they are, for your medical benefit. It's probably the most beautiful thing in the history of civilization. And I think it's the greatest achievement of mankind.
Upstate NY.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Since when is correlation causation?
So these cities refused to allow taxis to operate prior to Uber?
The cities set the price and restrict entry to the market. The obvious response from taxi drivers is to focus on the core urban area where they can get the most fares and ignore suburbs and outlying areas. If you need a taxi from a suburban area, you may have to wait for an hour or more for a taxi doing a dropoff from the city or airport, and looking for a return fare.
Uber provides a solution to this problem: Prices based on supply and demand.
If you are interested in reading more about this concept, try googling for "Why communism doesn't work".
Would you want someone with a communicable disease in your back seat? Do you want to be the next passenger?
What health care really needs though is the return of home visiting doctors.
Actually, home visiting nurses would make more sense. 90% of health problems are totally routine, and we do not need an expensive MD to treat every sniffle or cough. We only use doctors for everything because of legal concerns, and this is a major inflator of medical costs in America.
In other countries, with far lower medical costs than America, when you "go to the doctor" you are much more likely to actually be seeing a nurse or PA.
I am not a doctor, but I see their data, and I am involved in the policies and procedures.
Normally unless the person is showing signs of trauma, hear attack or stroke in the ED, they will be placed in a lower priority queue. And the doctor will not see them often for about an hour, while they treat the real emergency cases. Where these people will be treated by the Mid-Levels. At the urgent care facilities. The doctor will normally see you right away. Urgent care often have X-Ray and access and authorities to fix most issues. If found to be something that really needs to go to the ED, Then you will get transferred there. In the mean time you are under supervision of trained staff. Over all this is much better in terms of care, while it might be inconvenient to those who will need to be transferred, however it normally it isn't life threatening, but annoying.
We as a culture cannot afford the one size healthcare for all problems.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
That leaves you with somewhat of a split though. You have cities where Taxi service is useful and those where it is not. Even for something that is not immediately life threatening, even a 45 minute wait for a Taxi may be perfectly acceptable.
It all depends on the nature of the "emergency".
For the use case where Uber or a Taxi works, the 45 minute wait is probably not a problem.
I would't expect the "Uber effect" to be as great in places like New York City or London. Also in some of those places, the Taxis have started to adapt and steal some of Uber's tricks.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Here in Canada, taxi drivers are required to have first aid
That seems like a silly requirement. How often is this skill actually used in a way that makes a difference?
Sure, it is possible that a taxi driver could use first aid skills, but you could make the same argument for requiring that plumbers or barbers or accountants learn first aid.
Disclaimer: When I was a cub scout, I earned the 1st aid merit badge.
It's as if the other more than 10 ride sharing companies/services just do not exist!
People use "Uber" as a generic term, sort of like when you google using Bing, people also uber using Lyft.
Free business advice: Don't use a common generic word as your company name. Even if you do something cute with the spelling, it will still sound awkward to say "I am going to lift a ride". If people don't say it, they don't think it, and if they don't think it, they don't use it. This mistake likely cost Lyft more business than their stupid pink mustaches (at least that was fixable).
You know this can happen. Call a ride share place, to take you to a hospital. Die before you get there because you are concerned about paying for an ambulance (can't blame ya!). Lawyer sues the ride share company because you died (through no fault of their own). You know it is a possibility.
What about Lyft? When Uber is consuming all the oxygen, Lyft might be the only thing to keep some patients alive.
Have you read my blog lately?
I'm not sure I buy your argument.
Something like a broken arm is an emergency room visit, but really doesn't need an ambulance at all.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
That seems like a silly requirement. How often is this skill actually used in a way that makes a difference?
Considering it only costs $150(or less) and 6hrs of your time to get the training? Recerts every 3-5 years run about $75. Ask yourself the question, for a person who's on the road nearly all the time how is it not worthwhile to have people with that training everywhere. The belief is that it's better for people to have the ability to treat those in need, then not having those in need not being treated.
Sure, it is possible that a taxi driver could use first aid skills, but you could make the same argument for requiring that plumbers or barbers or accountants learn first aid.
Those plumbers, barbers, or accountants aren't traveling on the roads and carrying people in their vehicles now are they. The taxi drivers on the other hand are. This is the same reason why bus drivers(both public and private) have to have first aid certification.
Om, nomnomnom...
In other countries, with far lower medical costs than America, when you "go to the doctor" you are much more likely to actually be seeing a nurse or PA.
I am pretty sure you are quite mistaken. For France, I know you are.
In France, the official fee is 25€, minus 16.50€ reimbursed by the Sécurité sociale. I do not find on the web stastics on how many doctors follow the official fee (“conventionnés secteur 1”), but partial statistics seems to indicate they are the huge majority of general practitioners. At least I can say that I had no trouble finding several of them in my neighborhood.
And they are actual medical doctors, not nurses or anything else. And most of those I visited spend time with their patients, they do not expedite them to make a living.
I think you need browse some more to know why the medical costs are so high in the United States of America. You can probably start with the “Adam Ruins the Hospital” episode of “Adam Ruins Everything”, I remember it covered that topic.
And by the way, the nameless country between Canada and Mexico is not the whole of America. ;-
He's right; it's a stupid requirement. The fact that the course is cheap, or that the training is useful, does not change the fact that it's a stupid requirement.
It's also not an "in Canada" thing since regulation is done primarily by cities and provinces, so some places require first aid and some do not. Toronto used to require it, but no longer does. St. Johns doesn't require it but wants to make it a requirement, and is trying to get the province to do it for them.
The people trying to bring in first aid training as a requirement in Newfoundland also want to make "sensitivity training" mandatory, too. Both of them seem like equally absurd requirement to me.
I've only used Uber twice for work, though I've tried to use it more. Getting an Uber home from a major international airport takes about 5 minutes (so longer than walking right up to a cab) and costs within a few dollars of what a taxi costs for the same trip. I use Uber because my company has some connection to them so the rides feed our expense system. The local cabs don't take our corp Amex (also directly feeding our expense system), so that it's less hassle for me doing my expenses is the only reason I have opted for them so far.
Trying to get from home to the airport, on the other hand, can vary from 30 minutes to an 1.5 hours while the same cab company that can bring me home from the airport is 45 minutes and SuperShuttle (much cheaper than either) gives me a time I can count on for planning. It's not like I'm out in the sticks either. I'm in the middle of a bunch of heavily populated suburb developments and happen to be 2.5 miles (as the crow flies) from the end of said airport's runways. This area (and the county that I and the airport fall in) are one of the country's biggest Tech sectors (outside of SV) too which was an early adopter of Uber.
The point being that while taxis have problems, they are far more predictable outside of the major city areas. Uber is far from the panacea the "True Believer" want us to believe.
Not sure why you are trying to bring Communism into this since nothing about the subject or my comments has anything to do with Communism (or any particular form of government).
People used to use Taxi's for this same reason. Eventually Taxi's stopped taking fares to emergency rooms due to the liability they were exposed to. When Uber gets sued because someone dies on their way to the hospital expect this to end quickly.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
Uber must be rejoicing over this "free advertising."
You see, when it comes to "ride sharing" all media talk about is "Uber," "Uber" and more "Uber."
It's as if the other more than 10 ride sharing companies/services just do not exist!
Doesn't everyone know that Uber is the "kleenex" or "coke" of their respective market?
meaning, it's a name brand that belies the actual choice made (Uber could mean "taxi" if that happens to be less friction - like ride from the airport).
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If you can wait for 45 min. you can go to urgent care instead of an ER. Urgent care can then triage you.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Doesn't this scream out for some kind of service for non-life-threatening conditions that's significantly less capable (and cheaper) than our existing ones?
I mean, I can understand why it's not socially optimal to send two trained EMTs and a ambulance full of cutting edge equipment for a caller that cut his hand while slicing a bagel and needs to go to the ER for stitches. The caller isn't going to die in the next 2 hours (note: if the ER is busy they'll logically wait while more dire cases are handled first), all they need is gauze (or if they already grabbed a t-shirt, it'll be fine).
What's more, sending them in a low-capability ambulance frees up the kitted one with a defibrillator and full set of drugs for someone that really needs it. That is, allocating resources efficiently saves money but it also can save lives.
Sadly, I guess we can't get our shit together here so we ad-hoc a solution with Uber, lmao.
Emergencies don't always happen in a vehicle. Though driving is still a risky enterprise.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Too risky. See the great influenza epidemic as an example. Can you say "disease vector"?
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
I've had to call 911 or Hospital emergency line a few times over the past several years (elder parent who's prone to issues + kid injuries). In most cases, they don't push you to get an ambulance. In one case, the ambulance arrived and said it'd be cheaper if we drove our daughter in (they took a look and determined it wasn't a critical injury), so that's what we did.
Uber/Lyft/Taxi instead of ambulance makes a lot of sense if you've talked with the appropriate folks to make sure there isn't a need for blood/oxygen/IV or EMT during the ride over.
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We as a culture cannot afford the one size healthcare for all problems.
You'll get no argument there from me just as you'll get no argument that ERs get overcrowded with those that have no business there. Your original assertion, however, was that someone's ability to drive to the ER and their decision to call an Ambulance was the deciding factor of if they are a valid ER patient. That is demonstrably not true.
One of the factors that this study doesn't seem to take into account is Obamacare. That, I think, has had far more impact in overuse of the ER than Uber. Many ERs were used in place of doctors by people that had no insurance and/or couldn't pay since most public hospitals reduced costs or simply didn't bother to chase down those who couldn't pay. In my area within a few months of OC getting in gear ER wait times dropped significantly while getting an appoint with GPs became harder (e.g. outside Urgent Care level stuff, same day appointments are just about gone). OC has a lot of problems, but it's impact to ER usage definitely seems to be a big pro for it.
and for historic reasons some of them had a 'D' next to their names. Also, what does Obama's skin color got to do with any of this?
Google the phrase "Wallet Biopsy". Look up the cost of Single Payer Health Care vs our current system. You've been had (assuming you're not an insurance company shill). No joke, we could pay off the national debt in 10 years with the savings from Single Payer Health Care.
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or any other kind of long term care. They just patch you up enough so you don't die then and there and send you on their way. The idea you have healthcare because of the ER is a bold face lie meant to trick you into supporting a for pay insurance company that pockets trillions of dollars while providing less than no service. I say 'less than no' because they actively fight you when you try to use the product _you_paid_for_.
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Your comment about "nature of the emergency" made me think that the self driving Ubers in Pittsburgh can say "please state the nature of the emergency".
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
It's the other way around. Pre-Obamacare people would go to the ER for non emergencies since they have to treat them, and walk out on the bill.
Granted the implementation is so fucked up this probably happens anyhow and nothing has changed.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
I am not a doctor, but I see their data, and I am involved in the policies and procedures.
So you are completely unbiased... oh wait... you are actually being a self-absorbed pretentious fuck right now? ..and your opinion on this is probably completely entirely selfish because you are a lefty? yeah...
"His name was James Damore."
Taxis have the ability to stop to pick up someone, when they're already on the way to pick up someone else. Hence, they're unreliable (even if they're not supposed to do that, they still do it). In the most populated American cities, their total numbers were/are artificially limited, which means they were almost impossible to hail during peak hours (unless you're waiting for one at a very nice hotel, where the doorman has some leverage with taxi drivers because he can blacklist them if they do not show up).
Uber has an elastic workforce, elastic pricing, elastic capacity (if you know about UberPool), which adapts itself well to the peaks and valleys of market demand. The taxi industry, on the other hand, has a static workforce that doesn't adapt itself very well the ebbs and flows of the market.
Also, if you're having an emergency, you might as well order an Uber, a taxi, and a Lyft, all at the same time, and only get into the first one that arrives, but you'll find that if you cancel on the taxi, the taxi dispatcher will most likely blacklist your phone number for cancelling on them.
I can give you more reasons if you want.
In any case, you're correct that Uber is an awful company, for the workers, for the drivers, and for the investors, and I can give you a dozen reasons of why that is so, but from the perspective of the customer, the system works pretty well.
If you don't believe me, talk to any veteran policeman, or talk to any veteran bartender, where Uber (or Lyft) is strong, and they'll tell you that Uber/Lyft has saved thousands of people from getting DUIs in their city.
Here in Germany, if you want to get your driving license, you have to have a 1st-Aid training first. Without a 1st-Aid-training you can't get a driving license. I don't know how it is in other countries, though. Maybe it is the same in all of European Union.
Uber don't operate within about 150 km of home. The nearest emergency room is about 2.5km away. Thoroughly useless.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
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