About this episode
Elmouataz Hassan runs Tum Trans in Beaumont, Texas, an hour east of Houston, and says the hardest part of going from one wheelchair van to ten vehicles in two years has been used cars breaking down. He spent his first year on workers compensation trips alone, landed MTM after a year of trying, then emailed Superior Health Plan from January 2024 until a contract came through that May, giving him over 50 trips a month he brokers out to vetted competitors. Most of his drivers are women because brokers ask for them, and monthly revenue went from about $6,000 to over $70,000.
Key takeaways
- Hassan built the reverse of the usual path: he signed a payer contract with Superior Health Plan and now brokers overflow trips to other Beaumont operators he screened on Google reviews.
- Brokers routinely add a note requesting a female driver, so Hassan made that a hiring criterion. AVO Transportation called him about a contract specifically because his crew is nearly all women.
- Private pay is his review engine. He gives a 10 percent senior discount, drives every new private client himself, and texts a review link the moment the trip is completed.
- One backup wheelchair van covers every breakdown, because a wheelchair van can run ambulatory trips too. He also keeps a standing account with one mechanic shop and one tire shop.
- Workers compensation pays more per trip but the patient leaves after physical therapy ends, while Medicaid dialysis riders sit on standing orders for a full year at lower rates.
Chapters
- 0:09 Elmouataz Hassan and Tum Trans in Beaumont, Texas
- 1:08 Mechanical engineering to one wheelchair van
- 3:12 A first year on workers comp, then MTM
- 4:35 The first van and the daily Houston run
- 5:56 Becoming a broker: emailing Superior Health Plan
- 7:17 Fifty trips a month, brokered out to competitors
- 11:23 The Google review strategy that makes brokers call
- 13:47 Used cars, breakdowns and one backup van
- 15:46 A friendship contract with a mechanic and a tire shop
- 17:33 Hiring female drivers because brokers ask for them
- 22:16 Handicap buses and a hospital's five wheelchair ask
- 27:36 Six thousand a month to over seventy thousand
