Trade associate member update
STOPS – When you’re hurt, getting to the doctor
shouldn’t be a pain
FFVA trade associate member STOPS Enterprises LLC fills an important
need to people who have been injured on the job. The company helps them
get better sooner, which is also good news for their employers and
insurance providers.
STOPS specializes in high quality transportation and translation
services for the workers compensation industry.
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Gary Nelson, STOPS’ executive vice president of
sales, says the company strives to hire and retain the best drivers
for its patient transportation services.
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Gary Nelson is STOPS’ executive vice president of sales.
“It’s very important for an injured employee to get to the
doctor and to therapy. We have a nationwide network of drivers to get
people to their appointments, and interpreters to help them understand a
medical professional’s instructions,” Nelson said.
The Titusville-based company was founded 11 years ago by Robert
Jarvis and Robert Cook. Jarvis was a vocational case manager in the
workers compensation industry. He realized there was a need for a more
dependable patient transportation system. He then partnered with Cook,
who owned a large private investigation business, and started the
transportation and language services company.
Today, STOPS is able to take referrals from all 50 states and Puerto
Rico. It has a network of 5,000 vendors who serve about 1,200 patients a
day. “It’s a challenge, but we’re very successful in
covering all those runs,” said Nelson. “We work with large
insurance companies who want to pick up the phone and call one company.
They don’t want to hear that we can’t cover the assignment.
Our vendor development department scours the country for drivers so that
we have a 99.98 percent fill rate – that’s the ability to
take a referral and provide transportation – even in remote areas
where towns might be 50 miles apart.”
STOPS’ largest customers are insurance carriers and third-party
administrators.
Although other companies assist patients with their transportation
needs, STOPS is different in that those companies don’t provide
drivers, they call cabs, which may or may not work out well. “A
lot of times, they’ll pull up and honk the horn, then take off if
someone doesn’t come out quickly enough,” said Nelson.
“It’s different with our drivers. We know who they are.
We’ve done background checks. We have their cell phone numbers. So
if they attempt to pick up a person and no one comes out of the house,
they call us and we call the carrier or the adjuster. We then get
instructions on what to do at that point.”
Drivers are constantly rated as to patient satisfaction. The vendor
development department calls the patient after service is provided and
asks whether he or she had a pleasant experience. Drivers with the
highest ratings get the most placements and those with lower ratings are
dropped.
Language services are provided via telephone or on site. “A lot
of employees may speak English, but it’s their second
language,” said Nelson. “If they’re not able to
completely understand what the healthcare provider is saying, their
treatment may be prolonged and not as effective. So it really behooves
everyone to be able to communicate effectively in the patient’s
native language.”
To learn more about transportation, language services and more that
STOPS can provide for your company, visit the company’s website or
call 800-487-0521. STOPS’ world headquarters is located at
8855 Grissom Parkway, Titusville, FL, 32780.