About this episode
Tony Jackson, operations manager at Top Choice Medical Transport in Orlando, Florida and a 25 year veteran of the industry, says the company went from roughly 20 trips a day to 75 within his first month on the job. Almost all of that volume is private pay booked directly with hospitals and facilities, won by knocking on doors cold and by never promising a pickup time the fleet cannot make. Jackson turns away chest pain patients even when a contract is dangled in front of him.
Key takeaways
- When a facility asks for a 2:00 pickup Jackson cannot make, he offers 3 to 3:30 instead, which lets the facility reset the hospital and the family rather than absorb a two hour surprise.
- Drivers carry tablets, not phones. The tablet tucks behind a wheelchair or under a stretcher, survives rain, and signals to facility nurses that the crew arrived with the trip record in hand.
- Top Choice attaches giant umbrellas to both sides of the stretcher so patients stay dry between the hospital door and the van, a detail Jackson says no competitor bothers with.
- Facilities vet new vendors by checking Google and calling around, so Jackson leans on the company's rating and on existing Advent Health work in central Florida as the reference.
- Jackson is a CTAA certified trainer planning a driver workshop that issues certificates, and expands by sending crews to train locals in Jacksonville, Daytona, and Gainesville.
Chapters
- 0:00 Introduction
- 0:55 Bambi drives NEMT efficiency
- 3:42 Winning qualities of an NEMT business
- 8:00 Growing the business
- 21:26 Run Bambi Run!!
