DM Clinical Research increased trial continuity by 80% with Lyft Healthcare
INDUSTRY | HEALTHCARE
Challenge
Community-based clinical research organization DM Clinical Research needed to bridge the gap for diverse populations to have access to clinical research, and decrease drop-outs due to a lack of reliable transportation options.
Solution
Using Lyft Concierge, DM Clinical Research reduced transportation as a barrier for clinical trials by providing access to reliable, on-demand rides to and from clinical research sites.
Impact
- Increased trial continuity by 80%
- Exceeded industry diversity enrollment benchmarks by 300%
- Improved access to healthcare for underserved populations
- Increased patient satisfaction and retention
By providing access to reliable transportation through Lyft Healthcare, DM Clinical Research removed transportation as a barrier for clinical trial participation.
DM Clinical Research began in 2006 with a vision to deliver advanced, preventative medicine to underserved communities. Today they are the largest private clinical trial network in Texas, and have expanded their research footprint into 12+ dedicated and affiliated sites throughout the nation, including Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Chicago.
With over 132,000 patients in their database, they’ve received 98% positive patient feedback—proof that DM Clinical Research has always put the patient first. Their success is a result of their dedicated 500+ team members’ commitment to recruiting diverse patient populations, so as to help ensure everyone has access to a clinical trial. Above all, the patient remains their highest priority.
The challenge
“The underserved community is a lot harder to recruit for diverse patients. There’s a lot of stigma in communities of color around clinical research, what kind of healthcare access they’re going to get, and whether it’s quality care,” said Hera Arham, Director of Marketing and Patient Engagement at DM Clinical Research. “Looking at the patient journey holistically, there’s a lot of educating and gaining patients’ trust for them to want to commit to a clinical trial.”
For the historically underserved, which may include communities of color and/or those living in rural areas, hesitancy around clinical research participation is just one of several hurdles to accessing care. These communities often suffer from medical professional shortages, not to mention a lack of access to hospitals or clinics, financial resources, and limited transportation options.
A recent study by BBK Worldwide and ClinicalConnection showed that 43% of respondents cited the availability of travel assistance as a deciding factor in participating in a clinical trial.
“If you’re coming from a bigger, more cosmopolitan city, access to transportation is easily available through various methods—whether it’s a bus or train,” said Arham. “But when you’re in Texas, or the Midwest, and they don’t have a train system or reliable bus system, you have a larger problem: you have interested participants, but you don’t have a way to get them to a clinical trial.”
Without access to reliable transportation, diverse participation in clinical trials becomes an almost impossible goal.
“The partnership with Lyft Healthcare is essential. With Lyft’s transportation network, we’re not just giving [patients] access to new medicine, we’re also giving them access to clinics and the healthcare that they need, free of cost. Lyft Healthcare helps solve the bigger problem of people living outside of the proximity of viable public transportation [to healthcare].”
— Hera Arham
Director of Marketing and Patient Engagement at DM Clinical Research
The opportunity
Diversity and inclusivity are huge factors in clinical trials. Why? Simply put: people may experience the same disease differently. When you consider the inclusion or exclusion criteria for clinical trials, it creates a better understanding of diseases and conditions, preventive factors, and treatment effectiveness across populations.
DM Clinical Research earned their reputation for conducting clinical trials with uncompromised compassion and quality. So it’s no surprise that they’ve successfully met sponsor needs with precise data and diverse enrollments, all while creating a positive patient experience at their embedded physician research centers. Their groundbreaking model has resulted in building trust with stakeholders as well as within the community—and continues to set them apart from other networks.
“The heart of all that we do is patient safety, data integrity, and making sure that we’re reaching as much diversity as we can in clinical trial recruitment,” said Arham.
Their large network of qualified physicians and community-based centers has enabled them to conduct over 500+ clinical trials for vaccines, internal medicine, and therapeutic areas that include pediatrics, GI, psychiatry, women’s health, and more.
“We want to make [clinical trials] accessible, but we also want to be cognizant of the fact that we are gaining their trust,” continued Arham. “We’re bringing them to a clinic that may be outside of their comfort zone. Maybe they don’t really understand the disease, but this could be a viable option for access to new medicine for them.”
To uphold the quality of their clinical trials, DM Clinical Research needed a transportation solution that helped bring and keep participants in trials, while also ensuring a positive patient experience.
The solution
DM Clinical Research brought Lyft Concierge to their 24-hour call center, where admins manage incoming requests for on-demand rides at any clinical site. The addition of Lyft Concierge made an immediate impact, providing access to reliable transportation for clinical trial participants.
DM Clinical Research also uses Lyft Assisted—an offering in Concierge for riders who want a little extra help getting from a facility or home to a vehicle and from a vehicle to a drop-off site. That enhanced level of service goes a long way for patients participating in clinical trials, and on average, our Lyft Assisted partners have seen ~22% fewer passenger no-shows versus standard rides.
“We go through our standard procedure process, asking specific demographic questions of who we’re looking to recruit. And at the end, we ask straightforwardly, ‘Will you be needing transportation?,’” said Arham. “It can be hard getting to a clinic when you live 30-45 minutes away, with traffic. Setting up transportation for the patient helps us to eliminate questions of why some might not show up, knowing that this is a barrier for many.”
Partnering with Lyft Healthcare has allowed DM Clinical Research to remove transportation as a barrier to clinical research—and achieve positive outcomes.
“I can’t harp on this enough—reliability is the biggest benefit. Not just reliability of service at the ground level with riders, but also in terms of support staff and resolving issues overall,” said Murtaza Marvi, Director of Central Services at DM Clinical Research. “We’ve seen improvements every month, and the number of unique patients using Lyft is increasing.”
Not only were patients and employees happy with the reliability and service, but DM Clinical Research was also able to reduce recruitment and retention challenges. Thanks to Lyft Healthcare providing access to reliable transportation, DM Clinical Research has felt more confident about opening sites in underserved areas with diverse populations.
“The industry standard is about 10-11%, maybe less, when it comes to diversity enrollment. We are at 48% enrollment across all of our trials. And that’s because of some of the structures we’ve placed in order to operationalize diversity, and that includes access to transportation,” said Arham.
Reducing retention challenges has also been key for DM Clinical Research. Typically, trials require multiple visits to and from a trial site. If a patient does not show up for a follow-up visit, the data is no longer viable and the patient is removed from the trial. “Providing access to reliable transportation to them means that they’re going to be reliable in coming into the clinic, making sure that they complete the study,” shared Marvi. “A lot of the factors of a successful clinical trial is the retention of the patient throughout the patient journey to the end.”
After partnering with Lyft Healthcare, DM Clinical Research saw an increase in trial continuity throughout the patient journey. DM Clinical Research’s success further demonstrates how rideshare can help improve patient retention and engagement, and result in higher patient completion rates for clinical trials.
TOP BENEFITS INCLUDE
Ease of use
Lyft Concierge provides an easy-to-use platform for businesses like DM Clinical Research to request rides and communicate ride information to those who need them. DM Clinical Research was able to quickly onboard and train employees, so they could provide access to rides to clinical trial sites across the country.
“We’re a very patient-centric organization, but we’re also very people-centric. We want to make sure that it’s easy for our employees and our sponsors to provide this service to patients. With Concierge, we have a great product that’s easy to use.” —Murtaza Marvi, Director of Central Services at DM Clinical Research
Rides for all
Together, DM Clinical Research and Lyft Healthcare are able to meet patients where they are with a rideshare option that is accessible to everyone, thereby increasing patient access while reducing patient burden. Whether it’s the first or last mile, Lyft Assisted or not, rides can be requested in advance or on-demand with Lyft Concierge, which helps to improve clinical trial participation across all populations.
“We see all types of patients, including children that participate in our pediatric clinical trials. Our first instinct is to think about any barriers those parents might face in enrollment, and transportation is always something we consider.” —Hera Arham, Director of Marketing and Patient Engagement at DM Clinical Research
Boosting trial continuity
Transportation is a huge barrier to care. DM Clinical Research saw an 80% increase in trial continuity when offering a ride on the Lyft platform for potential clinical trial participants.
“Whenever we’ve given an option to send transportation, more often than not, [patients] decide to opt into the trial, or at least come into the clinic to see if they’re eligible. I wouldn’t say it’s a motivation, but it changes their decision. And the more people show up, the more patients we can enroll in the trial. The probability increases.” —Murtaza Marvi, Director of Central Services at DM Clinical Research
Access to healthcare
The heart of DM Clinical Research’s work is providing access to healthcare, as well as new medicine. Regardless of how a patient may come to participate in a clinical trial, DM Clinical Research offers healthcare options to those who need it.
“A lot of academia relies on patients with populations that are within [their] zone. Our research centers are standalone, and a lot of them are at the heart of underserved communities. We’re keeping in mind what the surrounding areas are to make sure no patient is left behind.” —Murtaza Marvi, Director of Central Services at DM Clinical Research
Looking ahead
“We’re expanding horizontally and vertically with new cities and new therapeutic areas,” said Marvi. “We’ve been focusing heavily on vaccine studies, but we’re adding early phase trials which means the patient is spending more time at the clinic, maybe even spending the night. A lot of that work is happening in chronically ill patients who might not be able to drive and will be relying on some form of alternative transportation. As we’re expanding into these geographical areas and therapeutic areas, I only imagine this partnership will continue to grow.”
As DM Clinical Research continues to open research centers in new cities and expand their scope of trial studies and phases, Lyft Healthcare will continue to partner with them and offer access to reliable rides. Together we hope to continue to improve access to healthcare.
“We’ve created this community of sorts. We share articles. When doing discovery calls, [Lyft Healthcare] updates us on amazing things we can do which we hadn’t thought of,” continued Marvi. “It’s not a transactional relationship. It’s a partnership, truly. And as [Lyft Healthcare grows] within the healthcare space, I think we are only going to benefit from it as well.”
“Providing equitable access to clinical trials by clinical trial companies is long overdue,” said Buck Poropatich, Head of Lyft Healthcare. “We’re excited to work with a great partner like DM Clinical Research and very optimistic about the impact Lyft Healthcare will have on the future of clinical trial participation.”
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