Guides
Nemt discovery call with the guesswork removed
An NEMT discovery call as measurement: open on the last three failures, ask the access questions nobody asks, walk the route, and never quote on the call.
What to take away
- A discovery call is a measurement exercise. Every question below exists because the answer changes something you would otherwise get wrong.
- Ask about the last three failures before you ask about volume. The failures tell you what they will actually pay to avoid.
- Separate three questions that people answer as onewho books, who rides, who pays.
- Never quote on the call. You have not seen the buildings, and the buildings are where the minutes are.
- If they ask what a program will cover, say the program decides and offer to help them ask. Do not answer for a payer.
The call that wins an account is not the one where you describe your service well. It is the one where you leave holding facts nobody else bothered to collect, and where the person on the other end feels heard because you asked about their Tuesday rather than about their organization.
Open on the failure, not on the volume
Start here: tell me about the last three times a ride did not work out.
You are listening for the shape of the failure. Late against an appointment is a different problem from a no-show operator, which is different again from a driver who upset a family. Each implies a different commitment from you, and only one of them is about price.
Follow with: what do you do now when that happens? The workaround they describe is the cost you are proposing to remove, and it is usually measured in their own time.
The volume questions, asked properly
- How many trips a week, split by ambulatory, wheelchair and stretcher?
- Which are repeating on fixed days and times, and which are one-off?
- How many returns are will-call, where the time is unknown until someone calls?
- What are the appointment times, and how clustered are they?
- What proportion cancel or do not travel, and how much notice do you usually get?
Question five is the one they will not have an answer to, and asking it is worth more than the answer. It signals that you price on capacity rather than on optimism, and it starts the conversation about a cancellation window early rather than at signature.
The access questions, which decide your timings
These are the questions nobody else asks, and they are where the money is.
For each site, note which entrance a wheelchair actually uses, whether there is a step or slope, and whether there is an elevator that works reliably.
Find where a vehicle can stop and for how long, and who must be found before a passenger can be collected. Check if a gate, code, or reception desk is in the way.
Then ask to walk it. Ten minutes on the route from parking to the collection point tells you more about your load time than an hour of conversation. Take the timings; they go straight into the arithmetic set out in the operations and workflow guide.
The three parties, separated
Ask these as three distinct questions, because they are usually answered as one and the answer is usually wrong.
Who books the ride: a named role, and whether after hours it is somebody else. Who is riding: the patient population, their typical mobility, whether anyone travels with them. Who pays: the program, plan, facility or family, and whether it varies by patient.
The payer question decides your cash cycle and your documentation. Programs are administered state by state, as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services page on the benefit explains, so ask specifically what applies here rather than assuming from experience elsewhere.
The documentation questions
What does the payer require on each trip? Who signs, and when? What has caused a payment to be delayed or refused in the past?
The last one is generous with information. Anyone who had an invoice rejected remembers exactly why, and it tells you what your close-out must produce.
Whatever the answer, it sits on top of the ordinary expectation that a business keeps records supporting what it billed, as described by the Internal Revenue Service. Which bodies set the trip-level rules for you is mapped in the licensing and compliance guide.
What each answer changes
| What you asked | What the answer changes |
|---|---|
| The last three failures | Which commitment you lead with |
| Mode split | Whether your current fleet can serve them at all |
| Will-call proportion | How much capacity you must hold unassigned |
| Appointment clustering | Whether their peak collides with an existing account |
| Cancellation notice | The cancellation window you propose |
| Access conditions | Your load times, and therefore the price |
| Who pays | Your cash cycle and your documentation |
| Past payment refusals | What your close-out record has to capture |
If an answer changes nothing, you did not need the question. Every line above earns its place.
The questions about them, not about the trips
What would make this a success for you personally in three months? What does your management measure you on? Who else has to agree to this?
That third question saves months. Facility decisions frequently involve somebody who was not in the room, and finding out who at the start is much easier than discovering it after a proposal has stalled.
What to say when asked for a price
Give the shape and the variables. Explain that the price depends on load times, which depend on their access conditions, and that you would rather measure than guess.
That answer is credible because it is true and implies you will not be surprised later. It must not become a claim about the price. A number offered casually is a number you are held to.
Accurate description of what you offer is the substance of the Federal Trade Commission's advertising guidance for small businesses.
Close by naming the next step
Confirm what you will send and when. Confirm what you need from them. Confirm the site visit if you have not already done it.
Then check your own capacity before you write anything, in staffed vehicle hours at your measured load times, against what your fleet and crew can actually cover. That check belongs with the fleet and premises guide and the hiring and training guide, and the way the resulting proposal is built is set out in the sales and proposal guide.
Common questions
How long should the call be?
Long enough to get the access answers, which usually means longer than they expected. Say at the start what you want to cover so the time is agreed rather than taken.
What if they will not answer the volume questions?
Then they may not know, which is common. Ask for a week of their booking log instead; most schedulers will share it and it is better data than an estimate.
Should I bring anything?
Bring the questions and something to write on. Leave the brochure until you know what problem you are answering.
What if the account is clearly not right for us?
Say so in the call, warmly, and say why. Schedulers talk to each other, and being the operator who was honest about capacity is worth more than being one more name that overpromised.
