How To Start A Non-emergency Ambulance Service

What'south a non-emergency medical transportation business? NEMT services help people become to pre-scheduled healthcare appointments, including doctor visits, rehab, clinical testing, follow-upwards exams, and more than.

The demand for safe and reliable public transportation for people with medical problems and disabilities, specially in rural communities, continues to grow at remarkable rates. If you lot're thinking almost starting a NEMT business organization, read on.

The state of the NEMT industry

"Transportation issues shouldn't prevent anyone from getting to or from a doctor'due south appointment," explains Imran Cronk, staff writer for the pop life sciences and medicine journalism website STAT .

"Merely they practise only that for an estimated 3.6 million Americans. Some of these individuals don't have cars or access to public transportation. Others can't afford taxis or Ubers," says Cronk.

There is a growing market opportunity in the NEMT services industry. The overall population of elderly and disabled patients is increasing. Plus, as a result of the Affordable Intendance Act, more preventative and follow-upwardly treatments are covered by health insurance plans. In most areas, at that place simply aren't many wheelchair-accessible vehicles in public transportation fleets.

Josh Komenda , CEO of VEYO, suggests that there's a large population of those who need non-emergency medical transportation, especially for medically delicate or elderly people in rural areas. Many don't have a commuter's license or access to a vehicle. They're geographically isolated, or they can't access traditional public transportation for physical, mental, or developmental reasons.

A look at some telling statistics prove a litany of challenges—forth with business opportunities for solutions:

32 states reported that at that place more than 59,000,000 total Medicaid NEMT tripsbetwixt 2015 to 2018, for issues related to behavioral health, dialysis, preventative intendance, and specialist care.
Our health care system suffers an extra $150 billion in expenses primarily due to a refusal of care, delays in intendance, and missed appointments.
A recent report by The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured reveals that over 3.six million patients elect to dismiss or delay necessary medical intendance each year considering they don't have transportation.

Medical transportation company legal structures

The legal structure of your non-emergency medical transportation business has far-reaching implications—both in respect to partnering with payment providers and resulting revenue enhancement responsibilities.

NEMT businesses may be sole proprietorships, partnerships, or LLCs . If y'all want more help choosing a legal structure, an attorney can explain the advantages and disadvantages of each type.

While information technology'due south possible to change your legal construction, it'southward non ideal. When you're putting together your business programme for your NEMT company, retrieve through the possibilities effectually the development of the arrangement, and your expectations for growth. Your attention to particular will encourage conviction in potential investors and assistance to secure financing for the best starting time possible. Across legal structure considerations, apply a business plan template to assistance you make sure that you've idea through every aspect of your business organization.

NEMT certification, licensing, and insurance requirements

The non-emergency medical transportation industry is nevertheless in its comparative infancy as a formal niche—both in respect to technological innovation and federal regulation.

While there are no formal guidelines for the NEMT industry equally a whole, each state has its own ready of operational rules and regulations that all companies are required to follow.

NEMT certification elements

NEMT operators aren't currently held to the same education and grooming requirements as their counterparts in ambulance transportation. You'll still desire your staff to exist trained in basic medical emergency medical care—CPR, defibrillator functioning, vitals assessment, and other life-saving techniques.

As the industry develops, and the need for NEMT professionals continues to grow, certification courses will almost certainly become standard.

NEMT licensing elements

Vehicle licensing is another main element of the not-emergency medical transportation industry.

Double check your requirements with your local agency of motor vehicles, and brand sure yous understand any standards set for Medicaid transportation if you offer information technology, like:

Number of penalty points on a driving record
A certification of the commuter'southward health
A vehicle liability insurance policy
A criminal background bank check
Proof of negative random drug screenings

Auto and liability insurance elements

Because driving patients has inherent risks—traffic accidents or health-related events while en road to medical facilities—acceptable insurance is some other disquisitional aspect of starting a NEMT concern. While there are no national guidelines for insurance policy elements and dollar amounts, you'll want to work with your provider to brand sure you're adequately covered.

In virtually cases, coverage is based on a 2-part formula: coverage for the individual commuter, and coverage for the company in full general. Brand sure y'all sympathise the risks and liabilities so that being underinsured doesn't broke your company.

ADA-compliant wheelchair-accessible vans and equipment

If you're going to start a transport concern, you're going to demand the right vehicle. You're probably looking for a minivan, full-size van, or bus that meets the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the ADA Standards for Accessible Blueprint .

ADA compliance elements

Your vehicles will need to be ADA compliant if your business concern meets whatsoever of the following:

Private employers with 15 or more than employees;
businesses operating for the benefit of the public; and,
all state and local regime agencies.

Some ADA requirements include:

Lift door height: 56"-door opening meridian
Handicap lift: 30" x 40" wide clear platform
Wheelchair attachments: Able to withstand 2,500 of pressure level per leg
Seat belt mechanism: four-pt. tie downs with lap and shoulder belt
Interior lighting: ane-foot candle of illumination

Be sure to think through the associated medical supplies yous'll demand for your passengers—wheelchairs, gurneys, oxygen tanks, dialysis machines, for example. These extras volition influence the size and floor program of the vehicle you lot'll need, and will no doubt bear on your overall startup costs .

ADA-compliant vans

There are a few affordable makes and models of wheelchair attainable vans that are ADA-compliant—either right from the manufacturing line or afterwards an accessibility conversion.

Ford Transit Wheelchair Send Van:This handicap wheelchair van comes ADA-compliant right out of the manufactory. It's a full-size wheelchair van with plenty of headroom and multiple floor plan options.
Toyota Sienna Wheelchair Van: This accessible vehicle is an ADA-compliant rear-entry wheelchair van that happens to be one of the more affordable mobility vehicles on the marketplace.
Legend Side Entry Handicap Van Conversion:Spacious side-entry accessibility using a powered ramp operated past remote control or door side control.

Download your free business startup checklist today!

Service, staffing, payment, and marketing processes

On the front end end, you demand to be able to meet the needs of your customers—that means providing exceptional service with flexibility and consistency. That will require smart staffing decisions, and a delivery to ongoing training, peculiarly as the industry grows.

On the back finish, you'll demand to await at ways to command costs to increment your profitability.

From the start, call up almost:

The services yous offer and the most efficient ways to deliver them
Hiring the right people to piece of work with and for you
Appropriate payment options for your demographic
Your dynamic marketing strategy—or how you lot'll detect your clients

Selecting service offerings and billing

Whatever specific services you lot decide to offer, make sure to catalog them and communicate them clearly. You desire your customers to know what they're getting, and you want to make it as like shooting fish in a barrel every bit possible to exist transparent about billing.

Pricing your services

How you toll your services will depend on a few different factors:

Geographic location
Economic conditions
Age and wellness condition of customers
The business's ability to evangelize services economically

Pricing techniques such equally multi-service package rates, referral discount programs, and frequent client rewards can bulldoze additional business.

Hiring function staffing positions

Staffing an NEMT startup—exterior of competent drivers—will crave a mix of talented professionals with feel in client service, accounting and finance, scheduling organization, and leadership.

Every bit with most startups, your staff will probably need to perform multiple roles at first. Y'all may not be able to hire your total, platonic staff right out of the gate. But fifty-fifty in the early on days, it's going to exist important to take a solid grooming program for onboarding new hires.

Determining payment options

Medicaid volition probably be a primary payer for services. Make sure your staff has a working cognition of Medicaid'due south detailed processes and billing guidelines. This will include ongoing training for yearly program changes.

Developing relationships with insurance providers will probably too be key. Each insurer virtually likely will follow their ain prepare of operating guidelines—information technology's an initial challenge that should become increasingly smoother from twelvemonth to year.

Creating a marketing strategy

Once all elements of the NEMT startup are in place, it's fourth dimension to go the give-and-take out to potential customers, their family members, and their caregivers.

Money spent on a focused, multichannel marketing strategy is money well-spent. In that location should be a mix of traditional and digital advertisement techniques within the strategic marketing plan—a method to ensure that the message reaches those online and off. Establishing a marketing ROI tracking strategy can aid determine which channels deserve the larger investment of majuscule.

In improver to paid marketing practices, the NEMT startup can increment ROI by finding various unpaid—and sometimes earned—marketing opportunities .

These may include:

Partnering with non-competing businesses that serve the same customer base
Creating educational resources and hosting them on your website
Requesting write-ups in local newspapers and magazines
Establishing a referral program to drive discussion-of-mouth advertising

Get-go with a solid concern plan . Make sure you lot're properly licensed and insured, and that your vehicle is reliable and ADA compliant.

Now more than always, information technology's possible to develop a profitable NEMT concern while helping individuals access the proper medical intendance they demand to be salubrious.

Kelly C. Richardson, EdS is the director of content and social media for Atlanta-based AMS Vans—the Southeast's largest wheelchair accessible vehicle manufacturer and mobility dealer, and leading advocate of mobility liberty for persons with disabilities. He has over 18 years of directly response copywriting and marketing experience—as both a freelance consultant and full-time bureau partner—beyond a broad spectrum of industries, markets, and niches. As a freelance marketing consultant, Kelly has designed and executed strategic marketing campaigns for over 250 thriving B2C, B2B, non-profit, and regime clients—including Fortune 500s, mid-sized corporations, and burgeoning startups.