What Happened
Popular ride-hailing app Uber is expanding into new territory as it tested delivering flu-shots on demand. As part of its UberHEALTH project, the company started dispatching flu-shots with its fleet of Uber drivers in 35 cities – including New York, Chicago, and Boston – for 4 hours on Thursday, when “UberHEALTH” was listed as one of the options at the bottom of the Uber app. It offered Uber users a chance to get a wellness pack for $10, and a registered nurse will come along to give flu shots to up to 10 people. The wellness pack included several trinkets, such as a water bottle and hand sanitizer. Earlier this week, Uber announced a new partnership with Practo, an app that lets users in India and some Southeastern Asian markets book medical appointments and request an Uber to travel to them.
What Brands Need To Do
This is not the first time someone has tried to revolutionize the healthcare industry with an on-demand model. Pager, for example, is a mobile-based healthcare service connecting patients with healthcare professionals on demand. Launched in New York City in May, 2014, the startup recently expanded its service to San Francisco and inked a deal with Walgreens to reach more patients through Walgreen’s website. As more and more services become available through on-demand platforms, healthcare and pharmaceutical brands should consider moving into the space to make their services and products more easily accessible and readily available, through either developing their own on-demand services or partnering with existing services.
Source: BuzzFeed
