Lifespark and Envoy America are expanding a partnership between the two organizations with the launch of Lifespark GO!
Their latest collaboration will deliver transportation services to residents of 14 Lifespark senior living communities in Minnesota and Wisconsin — an expansion of a partnership that provides these services to its home-based care clients. Lifespark originally entered the senior living space last summer, acquiring Tealwood Senior Living and its portfolio of 35 communities.
Before rolling out Lifespark GO!, Envoy and Lifespark first started working together in 2020 to offer seniors transportation to appointments, religious services and other events. The partnership next expanded to include durable medical equipment and medicine delivery services.
Partnerships such as this one exemplify the ways in which home-based care providers are working to address isolation and the social determinants of health.
“Transportation is a social vital sign,” Dr. Bill Thomas, chief independence officer for Lifespark, told Home Health Care News. “We’re very familiar with physical vital signs, and everybody knows how important they are. But in terms of your connection to people and places, transportation is a vital sign. It requires innovators in the field, like Lifespark, to think about transportation in a way that classical or conventional health care companies don’t.”
Thomas is known for innovations such as the Green House model of long-term care and “Minka,” a tiny-homes concept for aging adults. He began working with Lifespark about four years ago, drawn to the provider by its person-centered approach.
Thomas is likewise a long-time friend of Lifespark CEO and founder Joel Theisen.
“I think we’re in the early stages of an enormous shift from a hospital-centered system to a community-based system,” Thomas told HHCN in 2018. “What really attracts me about Lifespark is that it has figured out that helping people stay in the community is actually the most valuable and cutting-edge innovation in the field right now.”
Matt Kinne, vice president of growth at Lifespark, also pointed out the consistent demand for transportation services.
“The most prominent requests that we’ve received through some of our care management team [members] and partnerships we’ve had with payers and health systems was for transportation,” he told HHCN.
Founded in 2004, Lifespark is a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based senior care provider with both in-home care and senior living operations. The company – and its leadership team – has been among the industry’s most visible innovators, even launching the joint venture “Homespire” with Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare in 2018.
Meanwhile, Envoy is a Phoenix, Arizona-based company that provides door-to-door transportation service, along with assistance and companionship, to older adults in the home.
Lifespark GO! utilizes Envoy’s subscription model to provide certified companion drivers, as well as full companionship assistance for Lifespark’s residents.
“We work with Lifespark residents with customized service to go places, not just the grocery store or medical appointments but even casinos — just to stay active, stay engaged with society,” K.C. Kanaan, co-founder and CEO of Envoy, told HHCN. “The benefit that we bring to Lifespark is we help them focus on their core competency.”
Some of the other benefits of this partnership are that it allows organizations, like Lifespark, to lower their overall expenditures. It also helps them differentiate themselves in a competitive marketplace.
From a business standpoint, the partnership is a licensing relationship. The two organizations have also made a long-term commitment to sharing data.
“As we take on more global risk and value-based contracts, it becomes really important to understand every aspect of our members’ lives,” Kinne said.
While partnerships that enable home-based care providers to offer transportation services have become more common over the years, Thomas pointed out some key differences between Envoy and traditional ride-share companies.
“There is a demand for transportation services that are organized and oriented around doing a great job for older people,” he said. “Nothing against Uber or Lyft, but that’s not their focus. For Envoy, that is their focus.”
Kanaan believes that the partnership between Envoy and Lifespark persists because the two organizations are aligned when it comes to goals and overall mission.
“When we met, it became very clear that Lifespark’s vision, their view of the service and how they do things was very similar to how we view our role in society, which is providing great service to older adults,” he said. “It was easy to come to an agreement and work together to execute that agreement.”
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