Becker's ASC Review

43 HEALTHCARE NEWS Lyft, Uber requesting larger role in government COVID-19 vaccine rollout: WSJ report By Jackie Drees L y and Uber are in talks with President Biden's administration as the rideshare companies look to ramp up services for individuals in need of transportation to get COVID-19 vaccinated, according to a Jan. 12 e Wall Street Journal report. Five things to know: 1. Ly executives met with President Joe Biden's team in December to request federal funds for vaccine-related transportation, Megan Callahan, who leads Ly's healthcare business, told the Journal. 2. In December, Ly partnered with Anthem and Epic on a campaign to provide 60 mil- lion rides for low-income, uninsured and at-risk communities getting the COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes available to them. 3. Uber on Jan. 12 said it is partnering with Moderna to provide users with vaccine-safe- ty information via its ride-sharing app. e companies plan to work with public health agencies to help those eligible for vaccine doses to schedule rides and receive reminder notifications. 4. Both Uber and Ly have talked to public health officials across the U.S. about helping with appointment transportation, accord- ing to the report. Ms. Callahan told the publication that state and municipal officials from heavily populated areas have been ask- ing Ly for free rides because they lack the necessary funds. 5. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi wrote to President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to advocate for the company's drivers and delivery people to be prioritized for the vaccine. He also offered to help provide rides to vaccine sites and share information via its app. n Americans increasingly paying medical bills through crowdfunding, study shows By Katie Adams T wenty-seven percent of the over 1 million fundraisers on GoFundMe from May 2010 to December 2018 were held to help patients cover medical costs, according to research published Jan. 11 in the Journal of the American Medi- cal Association. The 281 ,881 medical bill-focused fundraising campaigns post- ed on the website from May 2010 to December 2018 sought about $10 .3 billion. As of April 2019, the campaigns had raised about $3.7 billion. Forty-two medical bill-focused fundraisers were housed on the website in 2010, with that number increasing to 119,373 in 2018. The most common type of medical bill-focused cam- paigns were for patients with cancer (35 percent), trauma and injuries (19 percent) and neurological conditions (17 percent). n FDA deputy commissioner to step down By Morgan Haefner A nand Shah, MD, deputy commissioner for medical and scientific affairs for the FDA, stepped down Jan. 20, according to a resignation letter obtained and cited by Politico Pulse. Dr. Shah is a top deputy to FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, MD. In his role, Dr. Shah has worked on several initiatives related to the pan- demic, including developing the FDA's Pandemic Recovery and Preparedness Plan, which will assess the agency's COVID-19 response and decision-making. Dr. Shah, a radiation oncologist, also served as CMO of CMS' Innovation Center and as CMS Administrator Seema Verma's senior medical adviser for innovation. n

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