How to Start, Run, and Grow a Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Business

By Matt Bower

Due to transportation barriers, about 3.6 million adults delay or miss non-emergency medical care yearly. Each year, for health systems, the results of these patient no-shows have severe consequences.
For those that find it hard to transport themselves to healthcare facilities or medical appointments, they enjoy the much-needed services of non-emergency medical transportation companies. Especially as the population of the United States gets progressively older, the need for non-emergency medical transportation will be on the rise.
Wouldn’t you love to start a company that provides a much-needed and always in-demand service?
If you have a clean driving record, a desire to help those in need of transportation services to necessary medical appointments, and the drive to be your own boss, then maybe starting a NEMT company is right for you!
In this book, I will show you how to start, run, and grow a non-emergency transport business from scratch. We’ll discuss everything from business plan to marketing, customer service to daily operations.
I will take you through a sample scenario of two ladies who started their own NEMT service company, how they wrote their own business plan, and how they run and grow their business. I wanted to impart as much practical, real-world advice as I could share with you so you could start your own venture off on the right foot.
In this book, I will show you:
•What the NEMT business is, how it’s defined and what solutions it provides
•How NEMT business services work
•The history of the non-emergency transport service industry
•How NEMT services have evolved
•Why this industry need is so important
•What the current state of the NEMT business is
•How to get your business started
•Choosing a brand and a niche customer base
•How and what to write in your business plan
•How to set up your business structure
•The legal and financial aspects of your new business
•Advice on running your business daily
•Advice on how to grow your business with marketing and advertising
•How to go about collecting payments
Overall, the basic goal of this book is to give you some answers in your research about how to go about starting your own business to be your own boss.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Matt Bower
• Release date: Nov 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005114749

Matt Bower

Matt Bower graduated from LHU in 2001 with a degree in English/Writing and a minor in Theater. He was President of the local chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honor Society. Matt has performed with several comedy troupes, including the Cellar Dwellers (as seen on Comcast On Demand), Player One, and I-Factor, as a sketch writer and improvisor/actor. His novel Save Me, Rip Orion was a quarter-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2013. Publisher's Weekly positively reviewed the novel, which cracked the Amazon bestseller list in Fiction-Satire. His full-length play If Leopold Could Talk was a quarter-finalist in the New Century Writer Award 2002. His work has been published in Defenestration Literary Magazine, Neutrons Protons, The Crucible, PGHCOMEDY, and various blogs. An interest in storytelling budded when he won The Pittsburgh Moth StorySLAM, and later performed in The Pittsburgh Moth GrandSLAM, Kevin Allison (of MTV's The State) Presents: RISK! Live Show & Podcast!, WordPLAY, True Story Party, among other shows. He performs at comedy and storytelling events randomly in the Pittsburgh area. Besides maintaining his blog Crooked Lullabies, Matt enjoys sipping on an IPA while listening to Pirates broadcasts on his shortwave radio.

Book preview

How to Start, Run, and Grow a Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Business

By Matt Bower

Copyright 2020 Grelot Books

Agented by SRH Enterprises at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the proper written consent of the copyright holder, except brief quotations used in a review.

How to Start, Run, and Grow a Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Business

A Step-By-Step Startup Guide to Starting a Successful NEMT Business By Matt Bower

Cover and interior designed by Jackie Sanford

Table of Contents

Personal Thanks

What is Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT)?

The History of NEMT

The Evolution of NEMT

Brand and Customer Awareness

Writing a Business Plan for Your NEMT Business

Business Structure and Finances

How to Run Your Business

How to Grow Your Business

Billing Concerns

Conclusion

Personal Thanks

I would like to thank my dear friend Buddy Carver. He has been in the NEMT business for many years. I appreciate his guidance and support. He has been an invaluable mentor to me.

Also, I would like to thank my friend Cindy Lee. Thank you for always listening to me and my crazy schemes.

Last, but not least, I want to take a second to thank you, the reader of this book, for your support. I am happy to pass on my knowledge about this essential industry.

What is Non-Emergency Medical Transportation?

Patients need to have access to reliable and consistent care. Among the populations facing transportation barriers, the core solution for healthcare access is non-emergency medical transportation.

A major benefit of Medicaid is the ability to receive non-emergency medical transportation. However, it can be tricky to have a clear understanding of what this entails since Medicaid programs often come under question.

From state to state, what are the differences in their non-emergency medical transportation programs? To care for patient needs, what are the responsibilities of other healthcare providers?

NEMT Defined

NEMT, or non-emergency medical transportation, involves transportation services provided to healthcare consumers and patients who experience extraordinary barriers in getting to healthcare appointments.

These barriers include:

• Mental issues

• Cognitive functioning

• Physical or mental limitations

• Difficulty in waiting for services alone or traveling alone

• Not having access to a vehicle that can accommodate their disability

• The patient does not hold a valid driver’s license

The purpose of NEMT is mainly for medical appointments. Without immediate treatment, whichever occasion that places the life and health of the beneficiary of Medicaid at severe risk is emergency care. When there is an immediacy in a beneficiary’s medical needs, the real emergencies happen. As a result of acute symptoms, a situation of life-threatening like an automobile accident, heart attack, uncontrolled bleeding, and other severe distress can trigger the symptoms.

Utilizing the full suitable transportation mode, both from and to the appointments, NEMT providers are required to offer transportation, including for all associated transportation expenses.

Other NEMT Solutions

As a program that has been offered through the VA and some private insurers for more than just state Medicaid programs, non-emergency medical transportation is a crucial program.

Hospitals may need to step in to fill the care gap for patients. There is a growing recognition that enhancing support for patients and transportation access can help lower health costs and improve health outcomes even when health systems and hospitals within their purview of care delivery have not focused on transportation issues.

When they look at their community health needs assessments, it is possible to design NEMT programs by hospitals. Hospitals can determine the way out that is best appropriate for their population when they do this.

To assist patients in need of hospitals and other healthcare providers, ridesharing partnerships have been an excellent source. Using the familiar smartphone interface for patients to hail