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I've been wondering about this for a while but, is there a reason why Uber or an alternative cannot/should not get into the Ambulance space, if it were able to

I've been wondering about this for a while but, is there a reason why Uber or an alternative cannot/should not get into the Ambulance space, if it were able to get qualified staff. I feel like Ambulances/Hospitals charge way too much and using the app/tech at a basic level to connect the ambulances with patients addresses may be a good start for everyone and also the increase in supply may reduce costs.

cik2e 9y ago
There are already private services for medical transport, although I do not know if they are allowed to handle emergencies.
switch007 9y ago
Are paramedics/ambulances so unregulated in the US that it's /not/ a bat-shit crazy idea to suggest Uber Ambulances?
- TylerE 9y ago
  Not really. There are plenty of private ambulance services in the US. They generally deal with things like transporting a medically frail person to see a doctor in a different city, things like that. Non emergency, mostly. http://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/31/style/private-ambulances-when-to-use-them.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/31/style/private-ambulances-w... (yes, over 30 years old, but most of it still holds true)
  - switch007 9y ago
    Thanks for the link!
  - newfoundglory 9y ago
    I didn't realize there were public ambulance services in the US. When I was hit by a car I was definitely taken to hospital by a private ambulance as an emergency patient.
- Spooky23 9y ago
  Nah, there’s certification and usually contracts with municipalities for response to emergencies. It’s a real mix though... paid fire dapartments, volunteers, and private operators all respond to emergencies.
- adventured 9y ago
  There are a lot of private ambulance services in the US, they're anything but unregulated though as you'd expect with anything in the US medical field (one of the most regulated industries on earth). There's no theoretical reason why Uber couldn't get into the driving side of the business, with human drivers. Their future is in autonomous however, which will never be the ambulance business (it will never be autonomous, ambulance drivers frequently have to break standard driving laws in emergencies, drive at high speeds, drive around vehicles, etc).
  - TylerE 9y ago
    Once automation gets good enough it'll probably be better at it then human drivers (imagine weaving through traffic, that sort of thing. It would also be able to do things like reroute in real time to avoid congestion. You'll still need warm bodies in the back for life support, but I see no reason that the human in the front seat can't be replaced by sufficiently advanced technology.
    - kelnos 9y ago
      > reroute in real time to avoid congestion. Hell, in this ideal future where most or all of the rest of traffic is also autonomous, you don't even need to avoid congestion -- you just "phone ahead" along the route to tell any cars in the way to, well, get out of the way. As long as you don't have standstill traffic (which might actually be something you can eliminate as a general rule with a fully-autonomous, networked fleet), you're fine.
  - switch007 9y ago
    > It will never be autonomous, ambulance drivers frequently have to break standard driving laws in emergencies, drive at high speeds, drive around vehicles, etc). And because they have to perform emergency medical treatment, right?! Are we talking about different things - a mini hospital on wheels staffed by highly trained paramedics, and glorified taxis for the elderly/non-critical?
    - chiefalchemist 9y ago
chiefalchemist 9y ago
I think the bigger market would be Uber meets "full assisted transportation." ATM if my father (who had a stroke in early Oct) has to go to the doc there aren't many options - that I've been made aware of - other than me. My mother can't help him enough (without endangering both of them), and anything more traditional would just pull up and wait at the curb. Long to short, the country - and 1st World - is getting old. It's a big market. The issue is how well technology is a fit, at least for the next couple generations. p.s. I should know this but does Uber or Lyft deliver groceries? For less than the market?
ballooney 9y ago
When people criticize 'Silicon-Valley-Types' for only being able to think of technical solutions to social problems, it's exactly this kind of thing they have in mind. Just read this thread - the way medical care is paid for in the US is batshit-insane, injured people not wanting to call an ambulance incase they lose their house - and reads like a history book about european medieval history. The solution is not more apps, it's a proper healthcare system like almost every other developed country.
- vemv 9y ago
  An alternative ambulance service wouldn't be just an 'app', but an actual entrerprise with various logistical, legal and medical operations and probably hundreds of employees. The US would be a better place with that hypothetical startup. If Obama couldn't successfully reform healthcare long-term (as Trump will repeal it sooner or later), what can regular people do? Let them make that app.
- logfromblammo 9y ago
  We fix the largest problems that we are permitted to touch. We cannot propose a solution to the ultimate cause, because that would require the representative democracy to elect more scientists, technicians, engineers, and mathematicians to the legislature in lieu of the usual professional politicians, lawyers, corporations managers, and educators. So we work on what we can reach. We cannot create a proper healthcare system from the top down, but we can issue bugfix patches and hope they get adopted upstream. That keeps the system limping along, but never getting quite bad enough for anyone to demand the complete overhaul that it needs. It only looks crazy because the biggest problem any motivated individual can solve is limited either by the amount of investment capital they can attract with their solution, or by the amount of campaign funding they can attract with their solution. So any proposals that threaten profit margins cannot be considered.

cik2e 9y ago

There are already private services for medical transport, although I do not know if they are allowed to handle emergencies.

switch007 9y ago

Are paramedics/ambulances so unregulated in the US that it's /not/ a bat-shit crazy idea to suggest Uber Ambulances?

TylerE 9y ago
Not really. There are plenty of private ambulance services in the US. They generally deal with things like transporting a medically frail person to see a doctor in a different city, things like that. Non emergency, mostly. http://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/31/style/private-ambulances-when-to-use-them.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/31/style/private-ambulances-w... (yes, over 30 years old, but most of it still holds true)
- switch007 9y ago
  Thanks for the link!
- newfoundglory 9y ago
  I didn't realize there were public ambulance services in the US. When I was hit by a car I was definitely taken to hospital by a private ambulance as an emergency patient.
Spooky23 9y ago
Nah, there’s certification and usually contracts with municipalities for response to emergencies. It’s a real mix though... paid fire dapartments, volunteers, and private operators all respond to emergencies.
adventured 9y ago
There are a lot of private ambulance services in the US, they're anything but unregulated though as you'd expect with anything in the US medical field (one of the most regulated industries on earth). There's no theoretical reason why Uber couldn't get into the driving side of the business, with human drivers. Their future is in autonomous however, which will never be the ambulance business (it will never be autonomous, ambulance drivers frequently have to break standard driving laws in emergencies, drive at high speeds, drive around vehicles, etc).
- TylerE 9y ago
  Once automation gets good enough it'll probably be better at it then human drivers (imagine weaving through traffic, that sort of thing. It would also be able to do things like reroute in real time to avoid congestion. You'll still need warm bodies in the back for life support, but I see no reason that the human in the front seat can't be replaced by sufficiently advanced technology.
  - kelnos 9y ago
    > reroute in real time to avoid congestion. Hell, in this ideal future where most or all of the rest of traffic is also autonomous, you don't even need to avoid congestion -- you just "phone ahead" along the route to tell any cars in the way to, well, get out of the way. As long as you don't have standstill traffic (which might actually be something you can eliminate as a general rule with a fully-autonomous, networked fleet), you're fine.
- switch007 9y ago
  > It will never be autonomous, ambulance drivers frequently have to break standard driving laws in emergencies, drive at high speeds, drive around vehicles, etc). And because they have to perform emergency medical treatment, right?! Are we talking about different things - a mini hospital on wheels staffed by highly trained paramedics, and glorified taxis for the elderly/non-critical?
  - chiefalchemist 9y ago

chiefalchemist 9y ago

I think the bigger market would be Uber meets "full assisted transportation." ATM if my father (who had a stroke in early Oct) has to go to the doc there aren't many options - that I've been made aware of - other than me. My mother can't help him enough (without endangering both of them), and anything more traditional would just pull up and wait at the curb. Long to short, the country - and 1st World - is getting old. It's a big market. The issue is how well technology is a fit, at least for the next couple generations. p.s. I should know this but does Uber or Lyft deliver groceries? For less than the market?

ballooney 9y ago

When people criticize 'Silicon-Valley-Types' for only being able to think of technical solutions to social problems, it's exactly this kind of thing they have in mind. Just read this thread - the way medical care is paid for in the US is batshit-insane, injured people not wanting to call an ambulance incase they lose their house - and reads like a history book about european medieval history. The solution is not more apps, it's a proper healthcare system like almost every other developed country.

vemv 9y ago
An alternative ambulance service wouldn't be just an 'app', but an actual entrerprise with various logistical, legal and medical operations and probably hundreds of employees. The US would be a better place with that hypothetical startup. If Obama couldn't successfully reform healthcare long-term (as Trump will repeal it sooner or later), what can regular people do? Let them make that app.
logfromblammo 9y ago
We fix the largest problems that we are permitted to touch. We cannot propose a solution to the ultimate cause, because that would require the representative democracy to elect more scientists, technicians, engineers, and mathematicians to the legislature in lieu of the usual professional politicians, lawyers, corporations managers, and educators. So we work on what we can reach. We cannot create a proper healthcare system from the top down, but we can issue bugfix patches and hope they get adopted upstream. That keeps the system limping along, but never getting quite bad enough for anyone to demand the complete overhaul that it needs. It only looks crazy because the biggest problem any motivated individual can solve is limited either by the amount of investment capital they can attract with their solution, or by the amount of campaign funding they can attract with their solution. So any proposals that threaten profit margins cannot be considered.