About this episode
Derrick Kirunda, a registered nurse who launched Care Route Medical Transportation in the greater Seattle area in June 2024, went from one van to six in about 15 months, mostly without signed contracts. His break came when a competitor's own employee reported that firm for operating without insurance; the facility cut it loose and called Care Route, which covered the surge by renting mobility vans at $180 to $200 a day before financing three at once. He now charges $500 for a one-way Broda chair hospital discharge, up from a $175 opening rate, and outsources HR, dispatch, and admin to the Philippines.
Key takeaways
- Washington will not issue a business license without proof of insurance, and a separate for-hire certification is also required. Kirunda had already bought the van before he learned the order.
- An admission director told him to print hospital discharge envelopes branded with his company name and drop them on every unit, so case managers had Care Route in hand at discharge time.
- Most facility work runs with no signed service agreement. Facilities enter trips through the ordering portal, Care Route accepts roughly 90 percent of them, and it gets paid as a vendor in their system.
- Broda pricing was found by testing: a $175 base rate, then $200, now $500 for a one-way hospital discharge, with a discount for first-time clients. Medicaid rules bar billing it as a stretcher.
- Kirunda outsourced HR, dispatching, an admin assistant, and now sales and marketing to a firm in the Philippines, keeping only quality control and funding decisions for himself.
Chapters
- 0:04 The competitor that lost its insurance
- 0:58 From registered nurse to transportation owner
- 2:33 The timeline: idea in 2023, running by June 2024
- 4:05 Washington licensing, insurance, and for-hire certification
- 5:39 Renaming from DK Reliable Transportation to Care Route
- 7:02 Discharge envelopes on every hospital unit
- 10:28 How one whistleblower handed over a contract
- 12:02 Renting vans by the day, then financing three at once
- 14:19 Taking non-emergency stretcher discharges from ambulance companies
- 17:31 Pricing the Broda chair from $175 to $500
- 21:15 Outsourcing HR, dispatch, and admin overseas
- 26:45 Buying dispatch software before buying the van
