For years now, nurses like Betsy Acker have been helping MedStar callers like Johnson determine if their conditions really require an ambulance. If they didn't, she'd call them a cab instead, paid for by MedStar, which would take them to urgent care or the doctor's office.
Sending cabs helped free up ambulances for more serious calls, and saved both MedStar and the patient time and money. But the customer feedback on the cab service wasn't great. MedStar did what so many others are doing, and turned instead to the ride-hailing service Lyft.