Latest / OneLegUpAlex Media / One Leg Up On Adapting With Kerico Care, A Company Revolutionizing Accessible Transportation

Transcript

One Leg Up On Adapting With Kerico Care, A Company Revolutionizing Accessible Transportation · OneLegUpAlex Media

0:02
Here's your host, Alex Garrett. All right, to end the week on
0:07
the Alex Garrett podcast Network, I wanted to drop a couple of adapting conversations,
0:13
and on this edition of Adapting with Alex Garrett, let's talk to Carrico
0:17
k Erico about how they're changing the game for medical transportation. Here's my conversation
0:25
with Chris Oaks, the chief development officer for Carrico. What if you can't
0:31
make your doctor's appointment because of transportation? And my goodness, when I saw
0:37
this press release released for Chris Oaks, I just thought I had to get
0:42
Chris on. Chris, I'm so glad we're going to talk about this access
0:47
to reliable, non emergency medical transport services for patients, healthcare providers, and
0:52
communities. Tell us about yourself, Chris, and thanks for joining Adapting with
0:55
Alex Garrett. Alex, I'm flattered to be on your podcast. Thanks for
0:59
having me. I am the chief I'm the chief development officer of a company
1:03
called Carrico. Carrico Healthcare. We are effectively, on the outside, a
1:10
non emergency medical transportation company operating in Texas and Arkansas, but the guts of
1:17
the operation are very similar to what are called transportation network companies like Uber and
1:23
Lyft, in which we can expand nationally. And that's what we're trying to
1:26
do. The technologies out there for more needs based transportation companies, and our
1:34
company is focused on getting people with disabilities as well as senior citizens to their
1:40
medical appointments. Go ahead, sorry, alic, go ahead. One hundred
1:44
and fifty billion dollars a year, and that's because a patient. You know,
1:49
it's weird to call ourselves patients, but that's where we are sometimes,
1:52
right, So when a patient can't make it to the appointment, they get
1:56
charged. That's a whole separate issue. I don't think that should be right,
1:59
because health care industry should take into effect. Hey, these people can't
2:01
get where they're going, right, that's right. So that the number is
2:07
it comes from the National Institute of Health. It's one hundred and fifty billion
2:09
dollars in healthcare loss every year to what are called no show appointments. Now,
2:15
these are appointments that are kept on the books, but they're not canceled.
2:19
The patient just doesn't show up. Now, transportation across like all numbers,
2:25
the aggregate seven percent of the time a no show appointment is related to
2:30
a lack of transportation. But when you get into disadvantage communities, disabled individuals,
2:38
and senior citizens, the reason for no show appointments being related to transportation
2:45
is sometimes fifty sixty, seventy percent of the time. And just here a
2:50
couple of statistics that I share with people and they always say, wow,
2:53
find that's surprising. One in four seniors no longer drives. One in two
3:01
seniors have a difficult time getting somewhere on any given day because of transportation coordination.
3:10
One in four Americans have some sort of recognized disability, and thirteen percent
3:19
that's actually twelve point seven percent of Americans have a physical disability. So aging
3:25
and disabilities prevent the medical industry from doing what they're supposed to do. And
3:32
I always say, transportation when it comes to healthcare isn't sexy. Okay,
3:38
it's not new pharma, it's not an IPO or mergers and acquisitions, but
3:43
boy, good, reliable, safe medical transportation is imperative for keeping the healthcare
3:52
industry in the black, for keeping patients healthy and living longer, and for
3:59
a think it's just it's better for us as a society as well. Jared
4:03
go the transport products you offer, whether it be a wave vehicle, wheel
4:09
tracks vehicle, and whatever else. It doesn't look like an ambulet though,
4:13
right, so they can go with some sort of dignity. I have to
4:15
ask that. I'm glad you asked that. Yeah. So we have sedans
4:20
and we have wheelchair vans. All of our drivers are CPR certified. We
4:28
have the ability to help patients. What we do we call it door through
4:32
door service, and so we're not curb to curb. We don't just show
4:38
up, wait five minutes and leave. We will come into your building across
4:42
the threshold of your dwelling, if you will your at your front door,
4:46
help you get down to the vehicle if needed, whether you're in wheelchair,
4:49
you're you're independent, gets you across town to the appointment, gets you checked
4:56
into the reception, and then do everything in reverse. And it's subtle and
5:00
discreet. Our sedans are not. We don't broadcast that that we're any mt.
5:06
We have a similar to our our colleagues over at Uber and Lyft.
5:10
We have a little window decal and then we do have branded wheelchair vans.
5:15
But I have to say they're gorgeous and we think they actually look pretty sharp.
5:21
So we're you know, we're very, very sensitive to this. And
5:24
if I can just say that the reason my background is business, it's it's
5:29
fortune one hundred and I spend a lot of time in retail. But the
5:32
reason I joined Kerrico is I've known the founder, Mike Morris for for many
5:38
years now, and he started Karaco because he had a his mother was still
5:43
with cancer. Unfortunately she's no longer with us, and he's down in Houston,
5:47
and he was spending a lot of his time and day and energy away
5:51
from work helping his mom get from point A to point B. I conversely,
5:57
live in Minneapolis. My mother is disabled, she's seventy four, and
6:01
I spend a lot of time, or have spent a lot of time helping
6:05
her because I don't trust certain other companies with my loved ones. And so
6:10
we went out to create this company that we want. We want people to
6:13
trust us with their moms and their dads. And we've given I'll tell you
6:17
what, We've given two hundred and fifty thousand rides to date since twenty eighteen,
6:23
and we have a two tenths of one percent complaint rate, which is
6:28
like the industry best. So we do care about people. We care about
6:32
their dignity, we care about their safety, and we train I love our
6:39
company, which is I'm rambling. I'll eave you one more data point,
6:42
Alex, which I think you might find interesting. The Caraco difference is we
6:46
spend a lot of time training our drivers on patient empathy. We have cancer
6:53
patients, we have dialysis patients, we have people going through the hardest times
6:56
of their life getting into our vehicles. The last thing we want our drivers
7:00
to do is to be insensitive to that. So we stay away from topics
7:04
like religion and politics. We try to keep things late. Because I'm sure
7:10
this is true in New York City. I know it's true in Minneapolis.
7:13
I know it's true down in Texas and Arkansas. The average doctor appointment for
7:17
us as patients, we're lucky to get twenty minutes with our doctor, but
7:23
the average ride that we perform for patients is twenty nine minutes one way,
7:28
and so it's very common for a patient to spend more time with our drivers
7:33
than they will with their doctors. And so having an empathetic driver who understands
7:40
patient needs and dignity and privacy is essential. Let me tell you no,
7:45
no, this is great and just so many follow ups I can to ask
7:47
you here because there are two facets I'm thinking of and when it comes to
7:50
New York City where I'm based on Long Island as well, Ober and Lift
7:56
our only accessible to wheelchair access in New York City and the Five Boroughs.
8:01
We don't have that here on Long Island. So would Carrico consider starting a
8:05
branch? Have you started a branch out here? And then what about competing
8:09
with accessor Ride? I mean, look, access ride wait times I'm sure
8:11
you know are ridiculous getting to him from I'd feel like cargo could be a
8:16
game changer here. Well, thank you for saying that, Alix. Well,
8:20
here's the thing we're our big goal, okay, is to be the
8:24
household brand name when it comes to patient transportation. We want to be the
8:30
Uber and Lyfts of patient transportation. We want to be nationwide and we are
8:33
looking at New York in some other states. We hope to be in Long
8:37
Island soon. My dad married a gal from Long Island. I'm familiar with
8:41
Babylon. I love it out there. People there are great, but my
8:43
whole family is out there. The Donna, Debbie, all of them are
8:46
out there. So I grew up in there a little bit too. Great
8:50
place. Great place. So when it comes to our operating model is one
8:56
in which we partner. We can we can take ride requests directly from patients.
9:01
Most of the time we work directly with insurers, medicaid or the providers.
9:07
So what provider might hopefully your provider is saying, hey, Alex,
9:11
you have an appointment next week. Do you need to ride? And Alex
9:15
says, yes, I need to ride, and then the provider would say,
9:16
okay, We're going to get Caraco to come pick you up. That's
9:18
kind of our model. And we do most of our ride booking at least
9:24
twenty four hours in advance, because when the rides are being provided by the
9:30
providers, you know, they book stuff out. However, we're becoming more
9:33
effective at same day transportation. And I'll tell you this. We have a
9:39
partner down in Houston, Houston Methodist Hospital, wonderful teams down there. They're
9:45
the eighth largest hospital in America, and they've had an issue with hospital discharges.
9:50
You know, patients come in, they get discharged, and then they
9:54
wait. You know, maybe it's a four hour wait for an ambulance or
9:58
whatever it may be. So we've been really honing in on our on our
10:01
same day delivery. And so what we try to do with our sedans down
10:05
in that case is we're down to like a forty minute wait time for a
10:09
sedan and generally under two hours for a wheelchair van ride. And we come
10:16
in for the wheelchair van rides, we come in at like half the price.
10:18
Because that's how we're structured. We don't have a we don't have a
10:22
big expensive corporate team. We run a we we run a tight ship.
10:26
We invest all of our money into driver training and making the most for the
10:31
patient, getting getting the highest Let's man, let's talk about affordability. So
10:37
here we are Access to Ride has raised the rates once again for crappy service.
10:41
Right, Can I just be political, not political, but can I
10:43
just say what it is. It's crappy service. So yeah, why why
10:48
do these companies who haven't been in the shoes and someone who's disabled continue to
10:52
think, oh, plus, we'll just believe it is going to afford this
10:54
or that. I'll tell you why, Alex. It goes back to what
10:58
I said in the beginning. You know, Uber and Lyft. I praised
11:03
them for one reason above all, and they broke the mold using technology to
11:09
create a you know, transportation network company versus the old school model for non
11:15
emergency medical transportation is you've got a guy or a team of team of people
11:18
and they buy a bunch of vans and the hire drivers, and they have
11:22
a radius and they dominate a small market and they can charge whatever they want
11:26
because they're the only game in town. Uber and Lyft changed the game with
11:31
technology and so now you know, you can have a California based company operating
11:35
nationwide. The democratization of transportation is happening. And the ability now for smaller
11:43
companies like Carrico to come into Long Island and to give the other companies a
11:48
run for their money. It's great and I look, I encourage other people
11:54
to get into this game. There are millions and millions of patients out there
11:58
who need rise. I don't want America to wait for Caraco to expand.
12:03
I want to see some competition. Man. It's all about competition. It's
12:07
all about getting the price down. We try to be transparent in our pricing.
12:13
Our pricing does vary from region to region because it has to you know,
12:20
cost of living for this and that and whatever. We take it all
12:22
due account. But I'll tell you this, You and I both know this
12:26
as first experience, as everybody else does. When it comes to transportation,
12:31
we're like the only part of the healthcare the healthcare journey. Well, you
12:37
know what you're paying for before you pay it, right, How many times
12:39
have you gone to a doctor's appointment and then six months later you get a
12:43
bill for nine hundred dollars because they cleaned out your ears or whatever I got.
12:48
It's amazing you say that I got a thousand dollars bill for just looking
12:52
down my nose and throat just because I have had a little congestion. And
12:56
of course I'm not out of it, but sometimes I have to use a
13:01
Hey, I need financial aid here because you know, I don't make enough
13:05
to cover that kind of bill. And I guess that's what's conversation about.
13:09
But I'm just saying I get hit with those bills all the time. I
13:11
know what you're talking about. This you me and three hundred million other Americans,
13:18
So I don't know. I I getting back to your question about the
13:22
competitor there that that that's up there. You know, the more competition is
13:28
going to hopefully bring the prices down. Now, how do you get more
13:33
competition? As patients? We need to be vocal. We need to tell
13:37
our doctors transportation is an issue. There's a there's an oncology department that we
13:43
were talking to right now and they've said for the last uh, you know,
13:48
for the last fourteen years that this particular leader has been in that building
13:54
for the last fourteen years, transportation is the number one barrier to care.
14:01
That's not just with that building, that's not just with that oncology department.
14:05
Transportation in America is becoming a real need because here's the thing. You remember
14:11
eighth grade, right and the ven diagrams where you had three circles and they
14:15
all overlapped in the center. The three circles. Okay, so the three
14:18
circles that I always I always use are the following. These are all independent
14:22
statistics. Okay. One Americans are getting older, two Americans are getting sicker,
14:31
and three Americans are driving less. And so where all three of those
14:37
circles overlap, you have a real need for patient transportation and healthcare. And
14:46
the more that we can speak up as patients, not just patients, but
14:50
advocates for our loved ones as caregivers as well. You know things are starting
14:56
to change, you know, our adapt and adapt. Now. I got
15:01
to ask you because when I think of Texas, I think of all right,
15:03
it's I've been there. There wasn't any wave access, you know,
15:09
it just was insane. My ex and I would roll stampower chair me and
15:13
my uh, my role is one roll Estate would roll from near AT and
15:18
T Stadium in Arlington down to University of Texas Arlington went to basketball because there
15:22
was no transportation. So I feel like there's a real niche for you guys
15:28
that I care go to break in there, and I'm sure you already have.
15:31
We're trying. We're trying, you know. It's the path from from
15:39
start to finish is never a straight line. It's got it squiggly right and
15:43
goes in every direction. We are. We're working on some things that we
15:46
hope will be able to allow us to expand quickly. I will tell you
15:52
this. We are able to win over people and health care plans because of
16:00
our quality of care. We as a company refuse to grow faster then we
16:07
can provide excellent quality of care. Without the quality of care, there is
16:11
no Carrico difference. Carico would just become another company. So we're the ability
16:18
for us to scale is actually it's quite easy for us to scale because you
16:23
know, we we pay our driver as well. We've got a good little
16:26
corporate culture. But it's really finding the right drivers who are empathetic. But
16:33
anyway, well, Chris, would you agree, would you agree that those
16:37
who take a lift and luber wave access just make friends with the driver who's
16:42
taking you because you never know where that connection can grow. You know,
16:45
I've We've had many a car and I speck up a conversation because I'm like,
16:48
you know, this could be a guy or gal we can utilize down
16:52
the road if we need it. I mean, there are people willing to
16:55
extend beyond the apps and maybe even into your network if you just had the
17:00
connector you know, yeah, we have. We've poached, We've poached our
17:03
fair share of Uber and Left drivers. And one of the things you said,
17:08
it resonated reminded me to bring this up because of I really do think
17:14
we hire good people and what's happening is we're getting We're finding that certain patients
17:22
who have regular appointments like oncology appointments or Dallas appointments, who are going to
17:27
be going once or twice a week. They will request a particular driver by
17:33
name. And what's happening is friendships are being developed between the driver and the
17:37
patient. This is particularly true with the senior citizens that we provide riots for.
17:44
You know, I'm sure it's the same with disabled people, as I
17:48
know. It's the truth with my mom. A Carrico driver might be the
17:55
only human being that the patient is in the presence of for a couple,
18:00
or maybe the first person they've talked to in a day or two days,
18:03
or the first human contact that they've had in a week. So so they
18:07
really look forward to seeing a friendly face and they really look forward to that
18:11
routine. And so I don't know when when, when you talk we start
18:15
talking about uber lyft drivers. I was just thinking about those relationships that we're
18:19
starting to build, and it's they're impactful. Man. We've got we've got
18:23
a lot of patient stories who are very grateful not just for Carrco, but
18:27
for specific drivers. And it's a beautiful thing, it really is. Did
18:34
I bore you, Alex? Is that why you're not not at all.
18:38
I'm getting on a train to New York as we're speaking, so you see,
18:42
always adapting and yeah, traveling. So my life is basically this is
18:47
transportation all over the place. A couple of other thoughts that have come up
18:52
while you're talking about all this is, can you break down numbers? Because
18:56
I feel like chemo is one of the biggest shoes for everybody, and getting
19:00
the chemo is so important. How do you guys change the game for that
19:04
for cancer patients? Well, what we what we would like to see more
19:08
of, obviously, is so just to be transparent about how how we build.
19:15
Right, so the oncology department will hire us to go bring a patient
19:19
in, we build the oncology department. Now, whether or not that oncology
19:23
department wraps that up into insurance or pays for it themselves or builds the patient,
19:32
that's really between the oncology department and their billing cycle. But I can
19:37
tell you that, you know, we do have patients reach out to us
19:41
directly for rides, and I don't really want to get into pricing specifically.
19:45
It'd be impossible for me to tell you what a ride in New York would
19:48
cost. But it all depends on the needs of the patient if they need
19:53
a sedan versus the wheelchair van ride, and then what the distance is,
19:57
but one of the one of these. Some people don't realize the struggle.
20:02
Some people don't realize the struggle for those web cancer and dialisis to get there.
20:07
We have to appointments. Yeah, or they could they could possibly get
20:11
very sick and die. Yeah, it's I'll tell you what this is why
20:15
we need to be vocal as patients. Right. Uh. I love the
20:19
statistic. It's so impactful. Every dollar spent in non emergency medical transportation to
20:27
get someone to a care appointment saves the health care industry eleven dollars in emergency
20:34
room care, and so it is beneficial for healthcare providers and insurers to get
20:42
the patient to be preventative care appointment to avoid a scenario where they're paying eleven
20:52
times as much money for an emergency room visit because the patient wasn't able to
20:56
get to their primary care appointment. Chris quit. When someone uses caraco right,
21:02
whenever they want to get to their appointment, they want to be brought
21:04
in a good move. They don't want a driver that maybe you've had a
21:07
bad day or whatnot. So would you say, when they take care go
21:11
that's as a home for the entire day, because then, hey, if
21:12
they feel empowered to you, guys, don't be abow to speak up in
21:15
the doctor golfice too. Yeah, yeah, I love that you mentioned that,
21:19
man, because it's Here's the thing most most of us when we think
21:26
of the patient journey, the patient journey starts when you walk into the doctor's
21:30
office. That's not how we see it. We think that the patient journey
21:36
starts when the carrico driver knocks on your door to come get you. The
21:41
goal is from that point all the way back when we drop you off back
21:45
home, is that we can be you know, have a level of human
21:51
engagement that maybe gets you talking, especially if you haven't had a lot of
21:56
communication, or you haven't taken if you had medications for depression or something like
22:00
that. We want you to start feeling good about yourself. That way,
22:03
by the time you actually get that ten or twenty minute visit with your doctor,
22:08
you're already talking and hopefully you're in a good mood. Hopefully you had
22:11
a good ride there. Because communication is we all know, we all know
22:18
this. An effective doctor appointment is one where clear communication from the patient starts.
22:26
And lastly, I just want to say this on the way home.
22:30
Go ahead. You're empowering people to be advocates for themselves. That's what I'm
22:34
very Chris, Oh dude, yeah, yeah, absolutely, It's wild.
22:41
You know, I studied medical sociology in college and I graduated a long time
22:45
ago, in the late nineties, and then I went into business and whatnot.
22:48
But I remember certain things about those days studying medical sociology, and they
22:55
were they said that back in nineteen ninety nine, they said, in twenty
22:57
years, one in five dollars spent in America will be spent on healthcare.
23:04
And I thought, there's no way, there is no way that's possible.
23:07
But then you know where I live over in Minneapolis and the suburbs, and
23:11
I'm sure it's it's like just everywhere I go. You go down these main
23:15
thoroughfares where there used to be office buildings, and in those buildings where whatever
23:21
other businesses, they are all healthcare related now, whether it's an oncology appointment
23:26
or an MRI or an eye doctor or whatever. We as a society spend
23:34
so much on healthcare and the fact that transportation is still a barrier is mind
23:41
boggling, and so we really just need to speak up. Chris. That's
23:47
what we're doing. That's what you're doing. And I love your podcast,
23:48
by the way, I listened to several of several several episodes. I'm trying
23:53
hear it now. When you when you get to know people with disabilities through
23:57
this app, did it change your perspective? I think for me and for
24:03
some of the other people on the Carraco team, especially our drivers, we
24:10
see disability in our in our lives every day, uh me dealing with my
24:14
mom in particular, I am I am always. I don't know, I
24:19
get I get goosebumps when I see how a lot of people won't let certain
24:26
things stop them, uh meaning, when I see disabled people just kicking ass
24:32
and taking names. I love that it does. It just makes me feel
24:36
so good. But you know, there are some disabled people who who need
24:41
a little bit of a little bit of help, a little helping hand,
24:42
and that's that's where we can come in. It's really what we do and
24:47
what we genuinely are passionate about. So on that note, on that note,
24:52
is there ever going to be like a time where what you're doing in
24:57
the medical field into leisure Like, okay, well if we can get a
25:02
doctor equipments, we need some to the baseball game, of the football game
25:04
or something leisurely as well. That I just had a phone call about that
25:11
before our conversation started a quarter into the hour, and for the first fifteen
25:15
minutes I was talking to someone about that. I think, yeah, yeah,
25:22
I mean, we would love to be the transportation company for all senior
25:27
citizens and disabled people in America. Now, realistically we need some competition.
25:34
There are plenty of good people out there. You know. This is transportation
25:41
right now. Is one thing that AI can't do for us as AI steals
25:47
job and technology steals job. Transportation. Here's it. I'll give you a
25:51
perfect example, Alex going back to healthcare. So we the telehealth. It's
25:56
a beautiful thing. We need telehealth rateful for telehealth. When my kids were
26:00
babies, we were on telehealth calls all the time. But one thing that's
26:04
interesting about telehealth is at thirty percent of all telehealth calls in America lead to
26:11
a physical doctor's appointment. So although telehealth is leveraging technology for the better there's
26:18
always going to meet be a need at least in our lifetime, our lifetimes
26:22
to get a person from point A to point B and to your point.
26:26
A sporting event. Yeah, watching a sporting event on AE hundred inch TV
26:30
is great, but it ain't like being there. So you know it's America's
26:36
Yeah, I know, you know it's better to be at the ball.
26:40
You know the field at Minnesota, you know the Twins, the Vices,
26:42
and actually watch our TV. I know that's snowing unless it's snowing ten inches
26:47
and I'd rather be at home. Well, that's true, and that's why
26:51
they have the dome for the Vikings. Not so much with the Twins though
26:53
That's made it interesting at certain parts. But I got to ask you this,
26:57
Chris. You mentioned the medical field. Do you have former healthcare professionals
27:00
that are driving for you that kind of know the way around dealing with patients
27:06
if you will? Yep, yep. We actually some of our drivers are
27:11
nurses. We have we have health care experience all along the employee base in
27:22
our culture, you know, we have we do have a board. Our
27:25
board members come from United Health Group and some other big firms. Some of
27:30
our executive leadership. We have all had some touch base on in the healthcare
27:37
side, either personally or professionally. I was talking to you about my my
27:41
my mom being disabled, that I used to have a career in consumer electronics
27:45
and I was there for the advent of aging and play solutions. And then
27:49
across our our dispatch team and our operations team, we have former employees of
27:56
different healthcare organizations there. And to be honest, you know, when it
28:00
comes to our drivers, driving for Caraco is a calling. It's the same
28:07
as people who want to be nurses because even though our drivers are not wearing
28:11
gowns, per se or scrubs, they are caring for patients from the time
28:18
they knock on the door to the time they bring them into the appointment.
28:22
So yeah, man, we are we are stacked with with a really good
28:26
sense of what it means to be a patient and and and how to care
28:33
for people with the utmost respect. Now you're dealing with the plant. So
28:37
I got to ask you this. I'm addiction using my HSA car for different
28:41
things and I feel like that's that guy do that for transportation, right,
28:45
You're HSA card for that? Yeah, one hundred percent one. Yeah,
28:53
that's that's a good point when it comes to patients actually paying for Rise themselves.
28:59
HSA, car It's worked. I will tell you this. I'm going
29:02
to give you our our web address. Our website is being updated as we
29:07
speak. It's been our new Our new website has been in the works for
29:11
a few months now and we're tying it into our new app. So we
29:15
were using an off the shelf booking app, which was great. It was
29:18
fine, but we want to have the best proprietary app for healthcare transportation in
29:26
America, and we feel like we've built it. But I want to give
29:32
you the website. It's Caracocare dot com. K E R I c O
29:38
care dot com. Take a look this week, take a look next week.
29:42
They're going to be different. But yeah, I mean if if,
29:45
if they're into for for your listening viewership in Arkansas and Texas where they're right
29:53
now, we are present. We will have news about new states soon.
29:59
New York is There are a couple of reasons I want to be in New
30:03
York. I can't say we're going to be in New York this year,
30:04
but a couple of reasons why. One, I love New York. I
30:07
love New York City, I love Long Island. I want to have reasons
30:11
to come out there and visit as often as possible. But more importantly than
30:15
my own desire, there was an article that came out last year. It
30:21
was in the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal. Forgive me for
30:23
not knowing which one it was. I get those two confused a lot,
30:26
but it was on the importance and the need specifically in the city about door
30:33
through door transportation services. So anyone who has had who's been anesthetized, or
30:41
has had plastic surgery or their eyes dilated, these doctor offices will not perform
30:49
the procedure unless the patient guarantees them that they have a ride home. And
30:57
so too often, you know the uncle that was going to pick them up,
31:00
or the loved one or the friend, they cancel at the last minute.
31:04
And so these providers in New York City are looking for door through door
31:10
transportation services that they can rely on to bring the patient in and take them
31:15
home. A couple of thoughts here, because you know I didn't ask you
31:19
the most important question. It's an app, and you know everybody has theoper
31:23
app will lift app, but tell us where care can be different from the
31:27
apps we already have today. Tell us what makes you guys stand out?
31:30
Well, So, first of all, I want to say this. I
31:34
think this is becoming more increasingly important. Although we have an app which people
31:38
will be able to download, probably you know, in a few weeks from
31:41
now, we also have a phone number. Okay, why is the phone
31:45
number important? I'll tell you why. My you know, I keep referencing
31:48
my mom, but we have senior citizens who have their thousand dollars iPhones who
31:53
with respect, don't know how to use them. I mean, my mom
31:56
has called me before on the phone saying how do I call an uber?
32:00
I was like, Mom, you can't call an uber, you have to
32:02
order it on the app. Well how do I get an app? Well,
32:06
you have to download it, go to your down I don't know how
32:07
to do that. Uh pooey, right, and she gets frustrated. So
32:12
we have a phone number that you can call. It goes right into our
32:15
dispatch team, and then the app is the app's very user friendly. It's
32:21
going to be very user friendly, I should say, just kind of like
32:22
an Uber and Lyft. But for us, it's the back end data that's
32:28
important because we can do all kinds of stuff from our operation side, which
32:32
will event I mean, at the end of it all help the patient have
32:37
a better experience. So I don't think, I mean, I can't,
32:40
Alex. I can't answer specifics about the app simply because if I do and
32:45
I say something incorrect, my CTO will slap me on the back of my
32:50
head and said, what did you say that for? So maybe you know,
32:53
I would love to when this thing's up and running, I would love
32:58
to come back to you and and walk you through. Oh dude, it's
33:00
just an introductory, introductory conversation. I feel like we're going to build a
33:06
relationship here and a friendship here. Chris, we're bounced off each other like
33:09
we just met each other fifteen minutes ago, but here we are talking to
33:13
that will we known each other forever. So it's great, right on,
33:15
man, No, and I'll tell you any thing about transportation and people disabilities
33:21
and there I hate say moods, but you know, how does the driver
33:25
deal with someone who may not be in the mood that they cousinally have to
33:29
go to a doctor's appointment. I mean, it's stressful for a lot of
33:31
people. It's a great question. Sometimes sometimes patients don't want to talk,
33:38
and sometimes patients do want to talk, and our drivers need to get kind
33:43
of a kind of a sense, you know, you can with eighty percent
33:46
of communication is nonverbal, right, So when we knock on a patient's door
33:52
and if they seem flustered or confused, we need to be extra sensitive to
33:57
that rather than if they open the door and their brea I had bushy tailed
34:00
and ready to go. And so in either case, our drivers, you
34:04
know, a lot of it's naturally you can't train sensitivity, but the best
34:07
drivers they're the ones who know how to deal with that. So if you
34:12
know the patient's having a bit of a difficult time, maybe it's kind of
34:15
a quiet ride. Maybe if they have they don't want to hear any music,
34:21
or maybe they have a music request, we can ask that is there
34:22
anything you'd like to listen to? You want the news, you want you
34:24
want some Beethoven, you want some Metallica? And what can we do for
34:28
it? But it just it all comes down to patient sensitivity. Tell us
34:32
about rapport with aid. So my fiance have aid, you know, every
34:37
day pretty much to make sure she'd okay. And the AIDS a company,
34:40
are they allowed to accompany the patient totally different doctor, Absolutely, yep,
34:45
one hundred percent. We just need to know ahead of time if it's going
34:49
to be an AID, uh, just so that we we just we like
34:52
to know as much information as possible. But aids are always welcome. One
34:55
thing that we found is for patients who especially disabled patients who are married with
35:02
the spouse and the spouse is typically their their caregiver and their transportation provider.
35:09
We we are trusted, right, so it is common for us to take
35:14
the patient to and from the doctor appointment, and it gives that spouse a
35:17
little bit of downtime, you know, time to do whatever they need to
35:21
do. Maybe they need to to tidy up, maybe they need to take
35:24
a nap and rest. Maybe they it's a good opportunity for them to run
35:28
out to the grocery store or whatever. But the patient is happy, but
35:31
the caregiver is really happy too because it caregiving. Caregiving is hard work for
35:38
anybody out there who's you know, helping the care for their loved one.
35:43
It's a full time job and it is you know, it's overlooked by society,
35:47
just like so many times. You know, being a parent of a
35:51
young child is it's it's constant care and attention. And so when we can
35:55
we can help to relieve that stress and give the caregiver just some some peace
36:04
and quiet for a time. It can make everybody in that circle their lives
36:07
just a little bit better for for a day or two, for those most
36:13
in Arkansas and other places that I have herecal Now, I see you have
36:16
an extensive background checks. Tell us about that. Oh well, yeah,
36:21
I mean background checks are essential to finding the right drivers, right, so
36:25
we do typically do a criminal background check, we do a driver background check
36:30
and there which I don't believe Uber and Lyft do I feel like anybody can
36:35
join those apps, to be honest, No, you know it's it's I
36:37
know we need we do need to give Uber and Left their due, Okay,
36:40
I mean that, I it is part of my experience. I wanted
36:45
to see what it would be like to sign up for Uber and Lift to
36:49
drive, and I did, and they're very thorough. You know, I
36:52
think that I've always said this, even though we compete with Uber and Lyft
36:58
in you know, in this customer segment, I'm grateful for Uber and Lyft
37:01
for breaking the mold, for creating the ability for transportation network companies to exist.
37:07
But I say this, and I think I said this earlier, if
37:12
not to you on the other call I was on earlier. Today, this
37:16
democratization of transportation is happening. If you remember early days of social media,
37:22
right, but even before Facebook, there was a there was a company called
37:25
Friendster, right, Friendster and then Facebook, and Facebook was dominant for so
37:30
long, but then different customer segments, different needs came out, which is
37:34
why we got Twitter and Snapchat and now you know, truth social or whatever
37:39
it is. There's something out there for everyone. And so when I look
37:43
at Uber and Lyft, you know, I think sixty percent of Uber's revenue
37:46
now, If not, I know it's over fifty percent of Uber's revenue now
37:50
comes from food delivery, not people delivery. And so Uber, to their
37:55
credit, they've done a good job, but their breadth of scope is very
38:00
very why but not particularly deep. Our breadth scope is very very narrow,
38:07
but very very deep. And so we're going to see more transportation companies leverage
38:13
the technology behind an Uber and Lyft, and they're going to have different patient
38:20
different I should say different customers segments. So to your point, Alex,
38:22
earlier you asked me if we would ever get into something like, uh,
38:27
bringing bringing a disabled couple to a to a sporting event. If not us,
38:31
then someone will. You know, there's a there's a demand for that
38:36
in and out of concerts. Yes, if not us, then someone will.
38:40
Anybody who wants to start a transportation company, I think this is the
38:44
time to do it. I think that the advent of transportation network companies in
38:50
America is the biggest transformation of transportation in American history since the advent of commercial
38:58
aviation. It's right here, it's right now. If they're entrepreneurs out there
39:02
listening to this, think about it. People need right. It's so funny
39:07
in the sense that you're encouraged in competition. But I guess that's the point,
39:10
is that you don't want to be the only one out there that offers
39:14
this. You want to maybe create a whole network of those that are driving
39:17
helping out people with disabilities. Because of your own experience and because of what
39:22
you're seeing through Caracole, Alex, I want you to get to wherever you
39:25
want to go, whenever you want. I want my mom to do the
39:29
same. I want people to get mobile, and you know that's going to
39:34
it takes a village, right. I'd love to see competition in the marketplace
39:37
because it keeps us all honest. Best man for the job is going to
39:40
get the greatest ratings, and we'll take Karako will take the Pepsi challenge against
39:45
any other company anytime. But I do think that you know, the reason
39:50
we got behind this is to help people get from point A to point B,
39:53
and I want to see more competition in the market all the time of
39:59
churs, I got to ask you this. This has been a great conversation.
40:01
I feel like we could talk for hours on this, even as I'm
40:05
on the train ironically right transportation. Yeah, so no, it's it's so
40:09
vital that that's happening, and I'm losing my trailer. Okay, So you
40:14
guys are throwing money at advertising the sense of getting on podcasts. So why
40:17
now, what's the reason for pushing it out? Now? What do you
40:21
guys see as far as you know, success and even money coming in to
40:25
throw at getting on podcasts and getting the word out there. Yeah, I'm
40:30
glad you asked that. You know, we over the last two and a
40:35
half years. We made some changes internally. We honed our skills, we
40:40
honed our hiring process, our value proposition. We really kept below the radar,
40:46
and we didn't want to. You know, a lot of startups in
40:50
any industry, a lot of startup full plant the flag, shine the spotlight
40:53
on themselves and say we're here and we're growing and blah blah blah, and
40:58
then something bad happens and they vanished. Right, We wanted to get We
41:01
wanted to be the best company possible to present ourselves to the American public and
41:07
the American healthcare system. And finally, I would say, in the last
41:12
two to three months, we've been venturing into this world of you know,
41:15
seeking a little bit more attention, in part to grow our brand, but
41:21
also in part to shine a light on the issue of transportation. It is
41:28
baffling to me that it gets so little attention and focus. And again I
41:34
said it earlier, it's not sexy. Transportation's not sexy. It's taken for
41:37
granted. Yeah, it's taken for granted. But if you don't have it,
41:40
you can't go anywhere. What's the point of a brand new, big
41:44
pharma drug If a patient can't get to the doctor to have it prescribed.
41:50
If a patient can't get to a pharmacy to have it fulfilled, there's no
41:53
point in it, right, what's the point of all these doctor's offices if
41:57
you can't get there? Right? And then it costs one hundred billion dollars
42:01
annually for those who can't make it as astounding. Now it's clear that Karco
42:07
is a small company and a small business company, I should say so.
42:10
Morder Mouse was where it all started and how it grew, right, Yeah,
42:15
it is, it is. It's a great story here we Mike Morris,
42:22
the CEO, was at a luncheon a few years ago with just you
42:28
know, network lunch. You have some lunch with some people, you get
42:30
to know each other, you handle business cards. What do you do,
42:32
Nice to meet you, Okay, blah blah blah. He was at a
42:35
lunch with some really concerned doctors. They had just started a pulmonary clinic in
42:42
Houston, and what they were saying was that fifty percent of their appointments were
42:49
no show appointments. Okay, now why did this matter? Well, they
42:52
had a full staff right, all the insurance, I mean, they had
42:55
a huge p and l right, but each one of these ointments that was
43:00
a no show cost them thousands of dollars in lost revenue, every single appointment,
43:07
because it's it's heart health. And so Mike said, well let me
43:09
let me throw Carrico at this, and they have since been able to grow
43:17
all across Texas, and wherever they grew, they brought Karaco with them.
43:22
Karaco had a major impact on a the bottom line of the clinic, but
43:29
more importantly the health of the patient because there was a solution to get these
43:34
patients into the pulmonary clinics and to their appointment results before the doctor's results.
43:39
Right, yeah, And so what's what's really cool is remember, well,
43:44
I don't know how old you are, Alex, I'm ancient. But when
43:47
when like Google came out, the term google became a verb, oh google
43:52
it right. Well, now amongst that particular pulmonary clinic, I think they've
43:58
got like thirteen looks throughout Texas. They say, call it Carrico, and
44:04
I just love the sound of that. Call it Cherco. Get a carc
44:07
just like get it, get an uber, get a lift. And so
44:09
I think we're we're making progress. But again, you know, for us
44:15
we want to grow as fast as we can maintaining the quality of care that
44:21
we that we offer. Some of these independent drivers want to try and build
44:24
their own business and you gotta gotta like pat them on the back for that.
44:29
But doing a network like Chericho is not the worst thing in the world
44:31
either. That would be a big help for that. Well. Yeah,
44:34
I think for an individual who wants to to drive and the care for patients
44:39
that is, if that's the calling, that's a good calling. That's a
44:45
different mindset than to start a company, because you know, when you start
44:51
a company, a lot of paperwork, a lot of operational procedures, hiring
44:54
procedures, insurance. I mean, that's that's a big difference between being you
45:00
know, the boots on the ground caregiver giving rides, which is essential,
45:07
and then or wanting to be to managing your own business. I would say
45:10
that you know, if you if you are capable of operationalizing a business plan,
45:16
then getting into something like this is going to be up your ally.
45:21
I learned in my career that I have certain strengths and weaknesses and one of
45:29
the things that you know, I'm in my mid forties now and I actually
45:35
love aging because I can let go a lot of the bs that doesn't matter
45:39
anymore. And what I've found in my career and having tried to be an
45:45
entrepreneur my own right, I'm a better part of a team than I am
45:50
an individual. And more to the point, I'm not someone who ever wants
45:57
my face on a coin. I want to be the guy behind the guy.
46:00
Unfortunately I get to do that in this job. I mean, I
46:01
love talking to you, and I I I you know, I like to
46:06
blabber a little bit, but really, our CEO, Mike Morris, he's
46:09
the he's the brains of the operation, and I'm just the guy who gets
46:14
to talk about what a great job he's doing, you know, all right,
46:19
I want to do one last thing because Sim's like, you're also a
46:21
big sports fan as of mine. And at the end of the at the
46:23
end of these games, there's a bunch of ride shares outside the stadium,
46:29
and I imagine you partner with the tweets of the Viking to the timberwol who,
46:32
by the way, you know, in the playoffs. All so after
46:35
like years, that would be huge if Karaco was at that ride share stand
46:40
just really is we all have that. I don't see that at any the
46:45
stadium at all. You know, that's that's an interesting Yeah. I hm.
46:52
I think if Karaco were to do something like that, because we do
46:58
offer a door through door service, because we will be escorting someone in a
47:00
wheelchair van, you know, if they're in a wheelchair, there would and
47:07
I don't have an answer for you, Alex, but there would need to
47:08
be a different formula than just rolling up to the curb and flashing a light.
47:15
You know, are you are you the guy? Like? There would
47:19
need to be something a little bit more concierge based. And of course I
47:24
know I don't want I don't want Alex paying for that special concierge. It
47:30
would be really great, if I can say this out loud, for these
47:36
billion dollar franchises to help pay for that, you know, let's get that's
47:39
what I'm saying. Have them partner with you and then invest in it instead
47:43
of relying on uber and left invest in it themselves. That would really be
47:46
a win for everybody. I think. I think you're right, Alex.
47:50
I think you're right all noodle on that because we're you know, as I
47:52
mentioned earlier, we're trying to we're looking at things a little differently. Medical
47:58
transportation is our is our forte, our bread and butter. But people need
48:02
rides, man, people, Well you mentioned me on college. Are you
48:07
partnering with other hospitals around the country that are buying into this idea? Literally,
48:13
we certainly are trying. You know what, you know, you know
48:17
this firsthand. And I know this because I'm also a patient and my mom.
48:22
I'm a caregiver to my mom. Every every kind of If you look
48:27
at healthcare like a like a river with stepping stones on it, each stepping
48:31
stone is made from a different material, meaning every hospital is different, right,
48:37
every healthcare plan company is different. And so you know there are hospitals
48:43
out there that might have a centralized controller for transportation. So if anybody in
48:52
the gigantic hospital needs a ride, they call that person, and that person
48:58
orchestates transportation. Other large hospitals, every single department has to orchestrate its own
49:07
transportation. And so you could have two hospitals, in which case Carrico works
49:12
with one with the centralized transportation function and that's a beautiful thing and that's great.
49:17
Or we could work with another hospital that might have forty different departments in
49:21
it, and I've got forty effectively forty different accounts within that hospital to manage
49:27
forty different people. Right. And so for us, you know, not
49:34
just for us, but for the transportation ecosystem, scalability is only possible with
49:43
a really good centralized operational plan. And so if there are people out there
49:47
listening to this podcast who work in these large hospitals or other large healthcare organizations,
49:55
having a centralized transportation team doing the orchestration costs very little because you're only
50:05
paying for one or two three people. You are taking the added responsibility off
50:13
of the shoulders of perhaps one hundred people across the hospital. It's one less
50:17
thing they have to worry about, you having an expert focused on nothing but
50:23
transporting patients. And then for companies like ours, it's the most effective because
50:29
when the email or the app request or the phone number comes in from person
50:34
at such and such a place, we can we can deal with that versus
50:37
Okay, what what department from the hospital is this request coming in from?
50:42
Is this on the the west location oncology or the east location eye care?
50:46
Which one is that? Oh, I've never been to the I Care.
50:50
You know what? I mean, so it all comes down to everybody works
50:53
differently. Every organization is has a has a level of effectiveness, and so
51:00
so we have to try and navigate and find out which organizations are the most
51:06
have the most effective way of communicating the need for transportation. And that's who
51:08
we be am to partner with. I want to say this, I feel
51:12
like just talking to you the last hour established a carco and we to the
51:19
financial stress in some ways, but also the emotional stress. We say this,
51:22
it's our job to make everybody's life a little bit better, starting with
51:29
the patient, right. We want to make sure that that patient is getting
51:34
from point A to point B, not just safely, but with dignity.
51:37
Our job is to make the provider's life a little bit easier so that if
51:44
they have a full staff on any given day, that their patients get to
51:49
their appointments and that everybody can feel good about doing their job. And also,
51:53
you know, we we you know, say what you will about the
51:57
healthcare ensures. We want to reduced their costs because every like I said earlier,
52:04
every dollar spent on patient transportation for a preventative care appointment saves eleven dollars
52:10
in emergency room care and so everybody wins. And that is our job,
52:15
our Carco job is to make everybody's life just a little bit easier for that
52:22
period of time. Well, Chris Oaks, you are with Carrico, and
52:24
remind us your title once again, I'm the chief Development Officer of Carraco.
52:30
Well, you are definitely working on development. I could see it. I
52:32
could hear your passion for it. So come back on the show and they
52:37
will get Mike on with you as well at some point to discuss this app
52:39
as it grows and as this company as it grows into a you know,
52:44
multi state accessibility sort resource. I guess I would say, right, yeah,
52:50
Alex, We'll come back on your show anytime. Thank you so much
52:53
for having us. Like I said, I've been listening to your podcast.
52:55
I really I get goosebumps when I think about what you're doing. And uh
53:00
man, thank you, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
53:04
And though this is a podcast, many people who are originally impaired don't read
53:08
what's on the district for tell us the website one more time, Yes,
53:12
sir, it is Carracocare dot com. And I'll spell that out it is
53:15
k E r I c O c A r E dot com