About this episode
Kourtney Hayes, a nurse who owns Patient Transportation in Birmingham, Alabama, left her nursing job in October 2023 with two vans and now runs seven vehicles across 14 facilities. Her first trip came from an ambulance company that could not cover a call, and her first facility contract arrived in March 2024 when a nursing home front desk she had visited repeatedly called after another operator failed to collect dialysis patients. Facilities are the bulk of the work, she takes no insurance, and her two hardest lessons were growing too fast and facilities that pay invoices late.
Key takeaways
- A friend told Hayes to call ambulance companies about trips they turn down. One referral became her first residential transport, and that rider's neighbors called next.
- Her first facility contract was unsolicited: a front desk clerk who had seen her drop in repeatedly called when another company failed to run that day's dialysis patients.
- Patient Transportation went from two vans in October 2023 to seven vehicles, and Hayes plans to buy more within a couple of months to keep up with the caseload.
- When 8, 9 and 10 a.m. pickups fill, she stops selling that window and offers an afternoon slot instead, since the company dispatches 24 hours a day.
- Harry Chambers of Osborne Digital ran her LinkedIn and Google Ads. The Google Ads generated so much community demand that Hayes asked him to turn them off.
Chapters
- 0:02 Cold open: call the ambulance companies
- 0:25 Kourtney Hayes and Patient Transportation, Birmingham
- 1:04 Nursing burnout, a dormant 2021 LLC, going all in
- 3:24 Two vans first, then finding NEMT insurance
- 5:19 The ambulance referral that became trip one
- 8:31 A competitor no-show wins the first facility contract
- 10:31 Two vans to seven, one facility to 14
- 12:59 Marketing with Harry Chambers at Osborne Digital
- 15:49 Growing too fast: will calls and unpaid invoices
- 19:19 Capping the 8, 9 and 10 a.m. rush
- 21:46 Wheelchair vans, co-loading and the daily mix
- 23:06 Rural Alabama and the next two years
