About this episode
Dominic Bono, director of business development at broker Onward, has worked with MTM, Access2Care, and Elite out of Nashville, and says brokers will not engage a provider running fewer than 10 vehicles in one area. Online provider forms sit unread, so he tells owners to call the provider relations manager for each state instead. An anchor broker contract is worth 50 to 60 trips a day, and the way out is marketing inside the facilities those trips already put you in, then dialing volume back by phone rather than rejecting trips in the portal.
Key takeaways
- Ten vehicles in a given area is the floor. Brokers open with vehicle count, locations, what software you run, and your no-show rate, which runs 5 to 15% on Medicaid trips.
- Brokers pay liquidated damages when network fulfillment misses the SLA or KPI in their state contract, which is why a provider who sends trips back becomes a red flag fast.
- Filling out the online provider form gets you nowhere. Bono says find and phone the provider relations manager in each state, the same relationship work that wins facility contracts.
- Broker trips are a door into facilities. Bono left brochures, pens, and notepads at the nurse's desk, followed up by patient name, and converted those visits into contracted facility pay.
- Run the P&L before chasing volume: 10 vehicles on private rates with lower mileage can beat 20 vehicles on broker rates at higher overhead and more wear.
Chapters
- 0:00 <Untitled Chapter 1>
- 2:06 The best strategies to get in with NEMT brokers
- 3:46 How to find the right person to talk to (and why online forms don't work)
- 6:07 How to effectively pitch your NEMT business to a broker
- 7:00 The minimum vehicle count you need to be taken seriously
- 10:03 How to leverage broker work to win higher-paying private contracts
- 16:16 The right way to scale back on broker trips as you grow
