Bill George has been in the transportation business for 37 years, founding his third company in 2018, so he knows a good thing for his bottom line when he sees it. Kinetik is a good thing, he says.
“Kinetik has been a game changer!” says George, CEO of WHC Worldwide, which does business as NEMT transportation provider zTrip. “Anything we can do to take out labor costs or the human factor is of benefit to us. Kinetik has opened our eyes to a whole new way to accomplish that goal.”
Kinetik has greatly reduced the number of people needed to process billing for zTrip, which offers non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) rides to Medicaid, Medicare and other patients heading to health care appointments. Kinetik’s centralized system streamlines and automates NEMT billing — all on one platform and for a fraction of the cost of manual operations.
With direct connections to more than 3,100 payors — including Medicaid, Medicare and commercial insurers — Kinetik speeds up processing and claims payment. More than 3,500 transportation providers (TPs) and transportation network companies (TNCs) such as zTrip and Uber are now integrated with the health care technology company’s platform. Kinetik is the preferred billing partner of the nation’s largest TPs and TNCs.
“NEMT is a significant part of our business, and I believe the market is going to explode in the next couple of years,” George says. “But billing can be very labor-intensive, manual, and some states and hospitals insist on faxing documents and schedules. Kinetik has automated a huge part of that process and allows our people to deliver a better customer experience because they are not pushing paper.”
The potential transformation of zTrip’s billing procedures cannot be overstated. The company is on track to complete 5 million rides this year. That means 5 million claims to be processed in the 16 states — often with different billing requirements — where zTrip operates. Four of zTrip’s 26 locations already have switched to Kinetik, with the others in process.
Kinetik integrates with zTrip’s dispatch system, which records data such as when and where a driver accepts a trip, where and when the patient is picked up, the route and when the patient reaches the destination. Kinetik then generates a bill based on that data, submits the claim and addresses any issues that may come up.
“It’s been fantastic,” George says. “It’s reduced our headcount dedicated to billing, and it has sped up the process. It’s been a wonderful deal for us.”
Once all zTrip locations have finished their switchovers, George says, he hopes to use the single-platform technology to bill school districts and others involved with the transportation of schoolchildren — another part of his business that involves labor-intensive billing processes.
“Our strategy is, let’s take what Kinetik does best (NEMT billing) and get it installed in as many zTrip locations as possible,” George says. “Then go back and get these other clients on the same platform.”
George remembers meeting Kinetik co-founder and CEO Sufian Chowdhury a year ago and quickly knowing he’d found a partner who could help his bottom line.
“He knows his business and has a true vision of where he’s taking it,” George says. “When you embark on a partnership like this, you want to make sure you have the right partner because if it doesn’t work, you’ve wasted a lot of time.”
The feeling is mutual, says Chowdhury. “Bill George is an incredibly talented businessperson whose understanding of the industry is second to none. He has managed to build one of the largest transportation networks in the country in record pace. We are incredibly excited to be partners with Bill George and the zTrip organization!”
An important part of the successful relationship is Kinetik’s ability to pivot according to zTrip’s needs, says George. “You don’t want a partner who says ‘You can have any flavor you want as long as it’s vanilla.’ Kinetik is not vanilla.”
