Whether you’ve been a Transportation Provider (TP) for two months or two decades, you always want to grow revenues and increase profits.
If you’re working with a broker to secure rides funded by Medicaid and other payers, you can increase your top line in two ways. First, keep members on schedule and provide service that ensures good feedback and high ratings. Second, make more on each ride with value-added services.
Beyond Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT), you can also explore opportunities to provide rides for everything from shopping to outings to tours. You’ll have the freedom to set your own prices and earn more for each ride. And with exceptional service, you can boost online ratings to increase the number of customers you serve and the number of rides each one schedules.
No matter which path you pursue, you need to select the right digital platform to manage logistics and administration and keep your expenses—your bottom line—as low as possible. Let’s take a closer look at each option for raising revenues.
1. Provide service that ensures high ratings and encourages brokers to use your business.
Being known for reliable, on-time, congenial service is a can’t-miss way to keep brokers calling. Every customer-facing person in your company, from the dispatchers to the drivers, should offer an experience worth bragging about.
Impress on your drivers that they should take pride in performing a service essential for your customers’ health. That means that, above all, they need to get riders to their appointments on time while driving safely. Encourage them to form a warm but respectful connection with regulars. But make sure drivers know they must always keep private health information to themselves.
Riders will also appreciate clean, well-maintained, late-model, ADA-compliant vehicles. Train every driver to handle every type of vehicle in your fleet. That may mean either hiring drivers with certifications or training those already working with you.
Hold drivers accountable for the service they provide. Ask riders to rank them using your digital platform. Then follow up by discussing any problems with drivers. Also make sure your organization’s culture inspires employees to offer great service and makes them comfortable discussing any concerns with supervisors.
2. Expand your capabilities.
If you’re currently driving only ambulatory customers or those who can transfer from a wheelchair to a standard car, consider other types of transport. The rates for a passenger who using a wheelchair or stretcher can be 2 to 10 times as much, depending on the services needed and whether it’s a weekday, weekend, or holiday.
You’ll need vehicles that are up to the task. For example, you’ll need a van equipped with a heavy-duty wheelchair hoist to accommodate passengers who cannot easily move into a car. Similarly, stretcher transportation requires vans roomy enough to fit the stretcher and patient, and often an attendant.
3. Extend your services to other types of transport.
The transportation needs of seniors and disabled people go far beyond NEMT. That gives you a chance to offer services that let you charge and earn more per ride.
For example, you can contract with local businesses that need transportation. This might include independent and assisted living centers, nursing homes, and adult day-care centers. These facilities take members on shopping trips and outings, as well as to treatments and other appointments. Most will find your services more cost-effective, reliable, and lower risk than providing the transportation themselves. That’s assuming you have safe, ADA-compliant vehicles equipped to transport elderly and disabled passengers and their medical equipment, as well as with drivers screened and trained to lift and move passengers.
In addition, check with churches, hotels, and private citizens who may need specialized transportation for guests and family members. You can support group outings and tours with flexible services and do so more cost-effectively thanks to superior operating efficiency.
4. Market on digital channels for more non-NEMT customers.
To acquire customers beyond NEMT, you should market your business with a website, Facebook business page, and social media. But before you consider where to market yourself, you need to think of how. How requires setting yourself apart from every other TP.
So, think about your value proposition—why people should do business with you instead of anyone else. Define who you serve, what you offer, and why your company is a better value even if you charge more. Once you’re clear on your value proposition, apply it in more places.
These days, many people use search engines like Google to find their area’s top service providers. But make sure you have a solid presence everywhere they might look. Build a professional web site, so potential customers can learn about your business and order rides. To make it easy for prospects to find your business, you—or a consultant—determine the best keywords for your website (like Transportation Provider or driving service) and incorporate them in appropriate places.
If you don’t have a Facebook business page yet, set one up to showcase your company and services. With the right plug-ins, you can also let page visitors schedule rides on Facebook.
Also claim your listings on Google, Yelp, and Facebook, and check the accuracy of the information. Respond in a friendly and helpful manner to reviews, whether they’re positive or negative. Do the same any time you’re mentioned on social media. And follow the ratings advice above for NEMT providers to make sure you’re attracting as many customers as possible.
5. Select the right digital software.
To keep your bottom line in check, your company needs software to track vehicles and riders and manage all elements of operations, including billing. Digital tools make it easy and convenient for customers to schedule, access, log, and pay for rides.
Digital software can also predict when a ride will be late, so a dispatcher can substitute another driver for the ride and keep the customer on time. Drivers get optimized routes, up-to-date manifests, and real-time notification of canceled appointments. You’ll keep both customers and drivers happy.
And that’s the most powerful way of all to increase profits—differentiating your business by ensuring everyone has an outstanding experience.
If you need help deciding which one is right, we can help. Modivcare has several partners to choose from, including MediRoutes and TripMaster, and our very own platforms – WellRyde and Circulation Drive.
For more information on the Go Digital! program, call 1-800-597-2049.