About this episode
Zackary Clemons, NEMT training director at Halifax Education Group in northeastern Georgia, has worked with roughly 600 NEMT businesses and wants a nationalized minimum standard rather than another regulator. He got caught out himself as a new provider: nobody checked his van off for ADA, nobody asked for the CTAA wheelchair certification he had already earned, and a backed-up county clerk's office could invalidate a driver's background check overnight. Rather than write fresh rules, Halifax points operators at existing free material, including the trucking industry's North American Fatigue Management Program.
Key takeaways
- Compliance breaks in three places: the organization licensed and insured at county and state level, the vehicles allocated and ADA checked, and the personnel standards behind both.
- Halifax packages training in four levels: level one ambulatory only, level two wheelchair, level three standardized power and manual stretchers with vehicle locking mechanisms, and level four bariatric plus hospice and specialty care plans.
- Clemons ranks insurance second only to knowing your payer's rules, and says operators should read their own loss runs and work the carrier's loss prevention team rather than just paying premiums.
- The CTAA envelope rule is the one providers break in plain sight: three wheelchair passengers loaded into a vehicle allocated for two. Know the envelope measurement and follow it.
- A competitor ran a gutted conversion van with no ramp or lift and bungee cords from the seat belt hooks to the wheelchair, then left a patient inside with no heat or air.
Chapters
- 0:00 Introduction
- 0:25 Overview of Halifax Education Group
- 2:52 Zack's background
- 6:06 Common mistakes NEMT businesses make
- 9:15 Top ways NEMT business don't meet standards
- 15:01 How Halifax Education Group helps
- 24:20 Interesting stories of NEMT businesses
- 29:02 RUN BAMBI RUN!!
