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All-in-One NEMT Software: RouteGenie
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RouteGenie helps NEMT providers simplify the entire transportation operation with one platform for routing, scheduling, dispatching, billing, fleet management, driver workflows, and passenger communication. By automating daily challenges like no-shows, add-on trips, vehicle breakdowns, billing errors, and inefficient routes, RouteGenie helps providers complete more trips, reduce costs, improve on-time performance, and grow revenue.
In this episode, we explore how non-emergency medical transportation is becoming a core part of healthcare access, especially for older adults, chronic care patients, and underserved communities. We speak with RouteGenie CEO Cameron Craig who discusses how transportation affects outcomes, why the industry stayed paper-based for so long, and how verification, routing, and AI are modernizing operations.
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Hello, everyone, and welcome to the SourceForge podcast. I'm your host, Bo Hamilton. Now, I want to start today's episode with a stat that stopped me in my tracks when I was prepping for this podcast. Now, every year, about 3.6 million Americans miss out on medical care, and not because they can't afford it, not because there's no doctor nearby, but because they couldn't actually get a ride. Transportation is one of the most overlooked pieces of the healthcare puzzle, and the industry built to solve it, non-emergency medical transportation or NEMT, has been running on outdated antiquated technology, phone calls, spreadsheets, and paper for decades. I would say way too long. That is finally changing, though, and my guest today is right in the middle of it. Cameron Craig is the CEO of RouteGenie, a Buffalo, New York-based software platform that automates the whole NEMT operation, everything from scheduling, routing, dispatching, billing, for transportation providers across the country. Now, Cameron took the helm in 2025 after acquiring the company, bringing a background in technology and digital transformation in the healthcare and transportation space through consulting and operating as an operation uh leader across various different businesses. Um, post-MBA, Michigan decided to bring his expertise and experience to RouteGenie, which is now a perfect fit for growing the business uh into the next stage of growth at a moment, when AI is reshaping how this entire industry operates. So I'm really excited to have Cameron on the podcast today, where we have a lot to talk about. We're gonna talk about why getting people to the doctor is suddenly a frontline healthcare issue, why this industry resisted modernization for so long. And then, of course, where AI actually moves the needle here, you know, versus where it's just uh a term, a buzzword. So um, yeah, Cameron, I'm really excited to have you on. Uh, welcome to the podcast. Glad you could join us.
SPEAKER_02Oh, thanks. Uh thanks for having me, and thanks for digging into this uh this niche area of medical transportation um and excited to uh to dive in.
SPEAKER_00Awesome. Well, let's just uh let's just dive right in then. Let's get right into it. Um I want to, you know, zoom uh zoom out a little bit before we get into the transportation part specifically. I know um you're talking to your healthcare plans, providers, transportation companies every day, and you've got a pretty unique vantage point on where the system is is kind of being strained. So, what are some of the biggest challenges facing healthcare today? And then how does access to care fit into that?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think it's important to set set the stage as we go into deeper into the kind of medical transportation space around just healthcare in general. Um, I think the biggest challenge right now is kind of everyone's trying to separate what's real from uh from noise. Uh, I think that's true about AI specifically, as you mentioned, around where it actually moves the needle, but it's kind of true about the whole system. Um I think every payer, um healthcare provider, transportation provider is just under pressure to do more with each dollar. Um, so I think that pressure shows up in a in a couple different ways. Um, I think the pressure on access, which you mentioned, you know, especially preventative care, right? Um, underserved communities, you know, and it's not that anyone believes that that that care doesn't matter. It's just those savings are are immediate. Um, and and those costs show up so much later in the healthcare ecosystem. Um so it ends up being some of those things that are kind of first under the microscope from cost-cutting perspective. Um, and on the other side, you've got a real kind of overdue um focus on fraud, waste, and abuse, which is obviously kind of big in headlines today. So both of those fights are over the same, the same dollar. And I think that's where kind of transportation comes in. You know, NEMT, the non-emergency medical transportation space, um, it's barely 1% of Medicaid spent, but it's sort of the hinge around access. Um and it's uh it's the cheapest dollar, I think, uh in the system that that keeps uh a much more expensive dollar from from being spent later, right? On emergency visits and um other follow-up care where the right preventative and an upfront access could have could have really uh moved the needle. So um, if someone can't get to a dialysis appointment or a primary care visit, that saved trip of of cost um turns into, like I mentioned, those ER and hospital admissions that cost you know far more uh for the healthcare ecosystem. So um, you know, the place that people treat you know transportation as just pure logistics, you know, it's really one of the highest leverage dollars uh, I think, in the whole system, um, you know, for cost and and for outcomes, which which uh is going to be a focus in how we measure uh that those dollars in the healthcare ecosystem as we go forward.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, totally, totally. It's it's interesting to um just think that you know you can have some of the the best hospitals in the world, but if you if you can't get your patients there, um they they just can't physically get there. You you you know, they're pointless, they're useless, you know. Um and getting there is is is easier said than done, obviously. Um I know it's you mentioned the the 1% um part of the was it Medicaid uh spending. Um, but it's it really has big uh big ramifications and uh plays a big factor into the overall spend of of healthcare. Now, one uh one sort of term I want to get into is um is this uh umbrella of social determinants of health. So for listeners who haven't heard the term social determinants of health is basically the idea that your zip code, your income, your access to food and transportation actually shape your health as much as anything that happens in the doctor's office. Um and the data, you know, it backs it up. Studies suggest transportation barriers account for a quarter or more of missed clinic appointments. So um with that uh you know, context laid for us here, um, how does transportation fit into the broader social determinants of health conversation? And then like what does that mean for how platforms need to evolve?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, there's been some pretty robust uh research on this. Every $1 spent on transportation can can result in $11 saved in uh Medicaid studies that have happened. So um there's there's a lot of research and proof to this, but I think just at its core, like if you can't get there, you don't have access, right? Um, I think that that's a pretty obvious point. Um, but there isn't always a building anymore. Again, thinking more broadly in the healthcare ecosystem, like sometimes it's getting someone to the clinic, it's getting um the technology working for a virtual care visit at home or getting the medical device to their home. Um, you know, there's there's a lot of different access points, um, which, you know, if anyone who's tried that, you know, getting into uh a virtual health appointment, getting to your doctor, right, those are the those are the key things that that you know get you in the door to get the right care. Um so the way that I think about it, health systems focus right on, you know, what happens inside their four walls, right? Admissions, discharge, eligibility, and all the care, like that is that is critically important. Um, but I think what determines whether you, you know, you actually, you know, that actually works is usually if somebody gets there, right, and gets there on time. Um, did the follow-up happen, right? Um and uh, you know, talking with and and working in the healthcare space and consulting previously, we know that that flow of patients and care and members, you know, in and out of a facility creates the foundation for uh, you know, the right care and the right um, you know, capacity for healthcare organizations to be able to support their communities, right? Um, so I think transportation, you know, we really see it. And I think a lot of our customers are starting to really advocate for this as well, is that, you know, transportation um and access is that connective tissue, um, you know, whether it's hospital or hospital transfers, if it's getting people to their appointment on time, like I mentioned, it it really sits at the at the center of accessing the care that that people need.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. It's it's just um, you know, it's it's one of those things it's not just nice to have. It's it's this like transportation is this functioning, like it's this load-bearing kind of operation. And when you look at the big picture of um transportation and the options available here in the States, it's um it just varies from region to region, uh, from a local level to you know, some of the bigger cities have maybe some more infrastructure, but like it's case by case with with like how each individual patient is able to be physically transported. Um so it gets uh there's a lot of uh complicated factors um in this industry. But um that gets us to the industry, that gets us to NEMT itself. Um and I think it's an industry that I'd guess most people probably probably haven't heard of, even though it handles something like 200 million trips a year in the US, which is pretty staggering. Um but for those who haven't uh heard of NEMT, it stands for non-emergency medical transportation. And it's it's the system that gets people to dialysis, to chemo, physical therapy, behavioral health appointments, all those very important things. Um it's it's not an ambulance and it's not an Uber, it's it's its own transportation world, right? So uh maybe you can help us better understand like why is is NEMT becoming a bigger part of healthcare access and outcomes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and you mentioned rideshare, and and you know, for a while that was sort of kind of part of the industry, and that's that's really part of the ecosystem now. It's just one of the many um, you know, that's referred to as ambulatory sometimes, uh uh, or or TNCs. That's a big part of of uh medical transportation. So it's really evolved as new uh forms of transportation, technology, you know, on-demand services uh and and and other things have have all come together to kind of create this this medical transportation space. Um, but I think for a long time um the transportation was just kind of invisible, this kind of line item, logistics cost, um, live someone on a spreadsheet, you know, in a hospital or with a with a payer uh or provider. I think what's changed is that people are, you know, paying for care and increasingly accountable for whether the care actually happens, right? So this is a lot about kind of how do we verify that it's happening and the transportation and the access, right? And and the the whether it's a signature or GPS, like those things are starting to really help validate um, you know, people getting to the appointments that they need and and validating that the care actually happens, which is really important as part of, you know, following someone through their care journey. Um so when you're on the hook for outcomes and it's not just like processing claims, you suddenly, I think, care a lot about if the person actually showed up, right? Um, and and if they missed appointments and it was transportation the problem, and now we can start to manage this. Um Medicaid's a big part of it. That's really where you know the industry was sort of codified and it became a required benefit. So I think that that is a big part of this. Um, but now it's really continued to evolve beyond beyond Medicaid. You know, Medicare Advantage plans are adding to transportation as a benefit. Um, you know, private pay is continuing to grow, um, health, you know, health systems um care. Obviously, we've talked about no shows really wreck their schedules. Um, we're also seeing interesting um new care delivery around adult uh day facilities and um PACE programs for all inclusive care uh for the elderly, which are really um starting to be a really proven and interesting care model. Um, and transportation drives their census. Transportation is a core part of you know, people getting to those programs and and um for those those models to really work. Um, and we're able to really measure that um and and also measure the efficiency of how people get there and those organizations bring people into their facility. So it's really cool how it's evolving and to the various different care um elements and how the the trust and verification piece of of medical transportation is uh really supporting um those models kind of coming to life, which is really cool.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that is that is cool. It's nice to see that there's there's more transportation options, it's being built into more health plans. Um, and yeah, it's starting to be more kind of accepted and um offered. And uh I think the the the issue, I imagine, um, as with a lot of industries, is just kind of modernizing it. Um, you know, a lot of times, uh from what I've understand and researching for this this episode is just like the the growing this growing piece of of healthcare infrastructure um is running on some outdated technology, landlines, a lot of cases clipboards. Uh, you know, uh we talked about spreadsheets and whatnot earlier. Um, but I think this is really the the heart of the episode for today, I would say. Like most industries, they get dragged into the the cloud era a decade ago. They got they got dragged in this cloud era, but M NEMT you know kind of sort of held out, I would say for whatever reason. Dispatchers have to manage phone calls, they have to keep track of trips on paper. Billing is often done by hand, again, using using spreadsheets, maybe in Excel. Um from the outside, it it you know, it kind of looks charmingly like analog. And I think Gen Z would would love that. But uh that's uh that that creates some chaos and inefficiency and ultimately gets you know hinders patients getting to the the care they need. So um, yeah, what's what's the deal here? What's how did this industry manage to sort of dodge the digital revolution for so long? Like why is it still phone calls and and paper here in 2026?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, I'm someone who heads zero on a on a phone call, you know, to a contact center uh to try to get in touch with the human. You know, I'm I'm guilty of that. And I think that that is sort of a natural human behavior. And I think um, you know, uh you don't always want to go through the prompts or or go through the the AI voice agent or whatever it might be uh to get to the right person. But I think that this space is just very, you know, human, right? We're we're moving people to go visit other people to get care. Um and and the way that a lot of transportation organizations, brokers, people in the space, you know, they started as community-based organizations that, you know, we're we're delivering for people that they know. Um and that continues to be a big part of this industry. So, you know, there's just a lot of human interaction at sort of its core. But I think uh, you know, now we're we're kind of getting into this point where uh for a long time, I think just the trips didn't need to be verified, right? The dollars being spent, you know, were were not as optimized. And I think, you know, people are now, like I said, checking whether the trip actually happened um in a phone call and paper, you know, is you know, was good enough for a while. And that's not the case, right? So I think the same gap is also showing up uh in sort of fraud, waste, and abuse. We talked about that earlier. Um and that's the clear problem. Um a lot of states and payers are trying to finally fix it. And over the last three, four years, that's become just a hyper focus, largely through GPS and signature verification. Um, and that's honestly where our software does best. You know, route optimization and verification and um the trust along that that chain is really where where uh transportation providers, brokers, payers really get a lot of value from folks operating on our platform. Um, I think the second reason is, like I mentioned, the the rider, right? So they're actually being transported. A lot of them are seniors or people managing chronic conditions. So for that population, you know, getting on a mobile app or um, you know, using an AI agent uh is it might be a little bit more difficult than than engaging with a human who you might have talked with multiple times and built that rapport. So I think part of it is as the population does age, like there's going to be more technology adoption, just as that is a little bit more native for people that have uh people are going into that space and might need this support. And uh yeah, I think there's just opportunities to to thoughtfully leverage um you know AI and I think uh you know, build build uh additional text and mobile and other sort of ways that people can get um get engaged uh with that. And again, every dollar is being looked at. So, you know, having your your route look like a pretzel versus a clean kind of from base to multiple pickups to care providers back to to base, I think is uh you know where people are trying to really drive a lot of a lot of value and optimization for their transportation and and the payers as well.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so there's a lot you you you mentioned there, and I want to get into the the economics of it and you know some of the the validation aspects and um logistics and AI, of course. But um uh really quickly, I want to ask like when a provider finally decides to change and do something about this, modernize their um their workflow and and modernize this part of their business, like what does that actually look like with Route Genie? Like what does it kind of look like on from day one?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think from day one, right? You're you're getting your payers, you're getting your your your your um vehicles, your drivers, right? You're getting all of those things that might have been spreadsheets, Google Calendars, um, you know, other workflow tools, project management tools. You're putting all that into one place that can be uh a continuous thread where the trip comes in and and you know it's verified, you review eligibility, right? You make sure that it's gonna be a valuable trip for you and the passenger, they're going to the right place. Um, and then you know, that driver communication through our driver app, right, all that is happening through through that versus sort of disparate systems, right? So the the the payer and the trip and the vehicle and the driver and the maintenance of that vehicle are all linked, right? So when you get to that billing and that claim submission, right, it's happening very quickly with our platform, right? Um and we have those integrations with dozens of uh, I think, you know, 35 plus payers and brokers that that drive a lot of value in this space. So that's really kind of day one. What it happens is getting all that data in one place and then creating that that sort of secure value chain and and securing your data um, you know, as you as you try to optimize, optimize your operations.
SPEAKER_00Well, and then when you have everything all in one place, you don't have to, you think of the time savings of having to like track down receipts and and you know um maintenance calls and all this thing. And it all these time savings add up. And it's I imagine it's hard to put a dollar value on on that, but um I think looking at the big picture, you could definitely start to see the the savings of having this all-in-one sort of software suite of of uh to keep track of everything, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and also from a like a value perspective for the transportation provider, right? Like they want to make sure that they're doing rides that are that are on time and and that the pay is eligible and um you know the members getting to where where they need. And depending on the type of contracts that they have, it could be with a uh regional dialysis uh organization, it could be with a national um uh health payer, right? And each of those may have different uh measurements and SLAs and their contracts and wanting you to drive to different outcomes. So you have to understand, well, maybe someone's actually dual eligible for multiple things, right? And understanding which payer and which program comes first. Um, managing all that can get can get pretty complex. And you want to obviously as a as a provider in transportation or healthcare, you want to do what's right by your patient, but you've got to make sure that the the funds continue to flow and and you're driving the right um outcomes with with uh you know the demand and payer side of things. So that's where I think the the true value really comes out and and uh gets pretty cool pretty quickly for for new customers.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. I I I think it's pretty neat to to see and hear that uh insurers and and Medicaid plans are really starting to look at this differently and see the real um uh value here and and the efficiency gains and whatnot. Like there's obviously a uh an economic uh economic logic here. It's just hard to sort of ignore. And um the research on this, I think, is pretty interesting too. What I found is is getting uh a dialysis patient to their appointments reliably is actually dramatically cheaper than the ER visit and hospitalization when they miss a week of treatment. Um and some estimates actually put the ROI on NEMT for dialysis patients at better than uh 10 to one. So it's um pretty staggering when you think about it like that. So my question for you is is like, are are the payers finally starting to get it here? Like, are insurance companies actually starting to see rides as part of the care itself, or is it still just sort of logistics to them?
SPEAKER_02I think we're right now seeing that shift, right? I think the fraud, waste, and abuse, the the introduction of AI use cases being you know truly beneficial, um, and then obviously the cost pressures that are coming on, like it is looking the programs are being designed with transportation as part of it, which is which is really cool. Um and I think the real shift is like I think people used to ask like how many trips, you know, now they're asking, did they actually show up, right? Um, did they stick to the treatment plan? You know, what happened after, right? What's the follow-up? Is there things that we can do during transportation to um understand how the care is going, right? And and you know, there's there's um uh different programs out there that where where people are being interviewed in their vehicle and they're they're being asked about the care program and that's being reported back to the payer, right? So transportation is really part of the the care plan and and you know, uh making sure that that happens and you're getting as much information and and making that as efficient as possible. So yes, we're seeing it being designed into the into the health plans and and um transportation providers are really um taking, I think, a hold of how to how to capture that value as well.
SPEAKER_00That's great. Yeah, I love I love to hear that the money is is starting to follow the outcomes. I think uh uh everyone can um be a you know would love to hear that. And um the demand side, I think, is also starting to get a pretty serious tailwind as well, because I know the the demographics here are kind of uh staggering. I've got uh yet another stat to share with with the audience here. Um the Census Bureau actually projects over 73 million Americans will be 65 or older by 2030, and older adults book roughly three times more medical visits than younger people, and a lot of them eventually stop driving. Um, and then you layer on, you know, chronic conditions, roughly 555,000 Americans are on dialysis. Um, they need three round trips a week every week. So you you just multiply this out, um, and the the numbers are pretty staggering, and and you can see how this industry really becomes much more important and um valuable for treatment, right? So with with uh an aging population, more chronic care needs, how do you see demand changing over the next few years? Like when you game out the the next few years, do you like what keeps you up at night? What gets you excited?
SPEAKER_02That's almost a given, right, that the demand isn't going to increase given the demographics, right? That's just how um you know our population is is is structured right now. But I push back a little bit on the idea that it's just gonna sort of happen happen on its own, right, with chronic care and an aging population, right? I think in relation specifically to transportation, like the demand only gets uh unlocked if there's a true peace. Of kind of verification and measurement. So if the payer can't trust that the trip happened and just can't measure it, you know, they're not going to expand that benefit, no matter how much sort of the need is there. So I think the demand is sitting there, but it needs to get sort of released. And again, it's sort of an overdue view of trust and verification and on that fraud, waste and abuse topic that we were talking about. You know, that that's the gate, right? It has to get, it has to get measured. So I do see the paramix getting broader beyond Medicaid, right? We talked about Medicare Advantage plans, other health systems. What's really interesting about health systems is, you know, they've been doing transportation, right? But you move someone from one hospital to another hospital in an emergency ambulance that doesn't need it, that's really expensive, right? That's really expensive for them. So how are they thinking about that thoughtfully, along with discharge, right? Along with on-time appointments, right? Maybe they're in an urban area, maybe they're in a rural area. Um, and that looks very different. So health systems are starting to use technology to connect all of those different things. Um, so I think the the health systems really jump in here as well. So I guess my answer is yes, the demand you know does grow, but I think there's there's um you know a bit of a ceiling on that growth uh is trust and measurement, you know, um not being put in place, right? So they need to really be there and and the infrastructure really needs to be there to to meet that that demand and make sure that the access and transportation piece is part of the the solution to some of the demands on the healthcare system that are coming.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So you mentioned this um this trust and and validation and measurement um component um multiple times. I'm just curious, like uh so it sounds like there's a lot of uh you know, kind of fraud and um uh maybe sort of abuse in this in this particular industry.
SPEAKER_02I'm sure we could schedule a whole like I mean yes, I would say, but that's that's that's the case in a lot of um industries that that are structured like this, whether it's healthcare or otherwise, in terms of some of these benefits. And um, you know, it's uh it's a small part, but it's an improvement opportunity, right? And I think, you know, at Rougen, one of our things is always just continuous growth. I think, you know, whether it's my LinkedIn feed or the conferences I go to, right? We as an industry, there's a huge focus on making it more efficient. Um so I think it's it's self-recognized, at least within medical transportation, that there's opportunities for improvement. Um, I wouldn't say that it's probably more broad than some of the other headlines we're seeing um, you know, in healthcare and other and other areas, but certainly an opportunity for improvement. And, you know, there's a real solution here, right? You know, it's it's point A to point B, it's geospace, you know, uh geofencing kind of GPS verification, all those things that can really um produce produce high results. And then when you see as a payer, someone who's taking maybe a hundred trips or or doing something that that is off their care plan, right? That's where you can put two and two together and really start to optimize. Well, hey, look, let's check in here, right? There's opportunities to uh uh to make this a little bit more efficient.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it it kind of updating um drivers with some of these kind of like Uber and Lyft style um tracking measurements seems like a pretty like like a no-brainer solution, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and that's been happening in the industry for a little while. And and you know, the industry is is a little bit like 50 different industries, right? 50 different states, right? So there that the rules and verifications, sometimes it's even county-based. Um, so the rules around that that evolve. So it gets really complex really quickly, which is why the technology piece, not just in the last few months, it's a few years, has really become a really critical part of this. Now it's just um even accelerating uh even even more.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that makes sense. Well, um, let's talk about you know where Route GD fits into all this. I know you guys position yourself as as more than just uh dispatch software. Um your company mission talks about connecting people and care by by powering the technology that actually moves them. And you've been pushing customers towards this, these, these value-based models, um, which I think is a pretty sort of ambitious uh stance for a software vendor in this space. Um maybe you could yeah, just uh elaborate on that. Tell us where where does RouteGenie fit into this bigger sort of transformation happening in the healthcare space?
SPEAKER_02Route's core focus is helping transportation providers run more efficiently across their whole operation. You know, for from like what we talked about, trip intake through payment, you know, that's that's our in our DNA, and that's and that's where we've built our platform and we'll continue to really invest in. Um and if I think about sort of a demand and supply model, like that's really the supply, right? And the providers, um, delivering that transportation, and that's really our our core. Um but they're being asked to do things with their contracts that pull us into those conversations to make sure we can support them um delivering on on their um on their uh you know value for their for their customers, their clients. Um so I think keeping the transportation piece um, you know, as our core is you know what earns us the right to do the other bigger things in healthcare that we've tried to talk about and the other unique use cases. So I think our long-term goal is to fully interconnect the medical transportation ecosystem. And you know, we've already started evolving those use cases beyond just the provider, like I mentioned, supporting health systems and connecting different transportation options and other types of payers. So I think, you know, because ultimately like the transportation here is about connecting supply and the demand, and like you said, moving moving members and passengers to the right, the right, um, the right care. So I think that interconnection is where we'll keep evolving and and and positioning us in the market. But you know, our core comes first, um, and and that really earns us the right to try to connect other parts of the ecosystem for our our customers to do their work and deliver on their contracts, like I mentioned, um, and for us to continue to evolve that way as well as a as a tougher um you know innovator in in healthcare and medical access more broadly.
SPEAKER_00Well, um, when I think about yeah, the digital transformation and in the software space and um you know uh efficiency, it's hard to ignore the the AI era where we're very well um in involved with um and it's just reshaping everything right now. And of course, this is the SourceForge podcast, so you know I have to ask about your AI roadmap, but every uh software company seems to be you know an AI company right now, but it seems like N N AMT actually is one of those rare cases where the problem generally genuinely fits. Like you've got these, these, these messy logistics, vehicles are breaking down. Um, maybe you have no shows, you have traffic to deal with. Like it's it could be an optimization nightmare. And I think that it could definitely be be alleviated with some of these software smarts. I'm curious, like, what's the biggest AI feature uh Rougeenie is working on right now? Like let's let's start there.
SPEAKER_02You know, the AI use cases are still getting proven out from a cost, from a uh adoption feasibility perspective. Um, you know, when folks say AI native, I I don't think there's any common uh consensus on what that actually means. Um, but we are are using AI tools internally to make our operation more efficient. We're um using it to develop our software. But on the customer facing side, um, I think one that that I've mentioned a little bit that that we're rolling out right now is is around voice. I think voice is a powerful thing. And I think even in the last six months, it's taken a huge step forward um in the technology and how how it can be applied. So um, you know, what I love about it is that it goes right to the sort of origin of this whole industry, which is picking up the phone to get a to get a trip. Um, you know, this this is how the industry sort of started. So I think call intake, you know, how trips get booked, whether you're um a broker, a transportation provider, that that's sort of the the core. So I think for us, our VoiceGenie uh AI agent is is really our core AI agent that we're offering to our customers now that I think is going to be super powerful, powerful for them. Um and it's really able to take not only the happy path kind of, hey, what's my ETA? Cancel a trip, will call, um, it's around scheduling and cancellation and exceptions. Um, and I think you know, creating that kind of full receptionist uh, you know, intake dispatch um uh workflow and making it outcomes based, right? How can we resolve calls quickly and and you know, focusing our model around around outcomes is is going to be really important. So we have to measure that, right? You know, uh making sure it's efficient, you know, the labor versus the AI piece that that that cost structure is continuing to evolve. Um but it's it's uh a really powerful tool for for our transportation providers, brokers, and others to be able to, you know, do more um with with the same resources, resources that they have. Um and that's uh so the AI agent kind of on the voice front is I think the really exciting, interesting one that's that's out there now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's that does sound interesting. So it's it's it um will it actually take calls or kind of manage um like is it take come in the form of like a chatbot on your website or what's the the main sort of functionality?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so someone picks up the phone, they call their transportation provider or broker or health plan um that manages their their uh their benefit for transportation. Um and whether it's booking the trip, canceling the trip, um, getting an update on the ETA, um rescheduling, um all that can be done through through that. And then um automatically those trip uh changes get get made within your software, right? So you're you're just really monitoring and looking for those exceptions um and and making sure that you're optimizing your routes, right? Um and again, just another easy way for those things to come in as you're managing all the other parts of parts of your operation.
SPEAKER_00Very cool. Yeah. Okay. So and then you guys rolled that out uh somewhat recently, or has it been out in public?
SPEAKER_02Yes. Uh we just rolled it out last month um and you know, getting some of some of our first customers to start to use it. So um we've got a few customers using it now. And um, like with anything, we're we're coming out with 1.0, 2.0 versions and um continue to evolve it and make sure that it's it's hitting the mark.
SPEAKER_00Very cool. Okay, so yeah, you're you're listening to feedback, um, seeing what's what's really working, what needs to be tweaked. Um and I imagine you've got a lot of like a laundry list of of other features that you you have on the on the list, uh, the roadmap to roll out. Um I'm curious, is there a feature that uh not many people know about that that you could mention that's maybe voice related, but could be um pertaining to another area of your software?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think 121 because it's sort of it is intentionally invisible. Um I think it's just it's a it's a basic but key element of our software that I think you know we we always like to emphasize is you know our driver app automatically logs arrival and trip status through through geofencing, which I rem which I mentioned earlier. So you know the driver doesn't have to do anything, right? They pull up, the system knows where they are, uh the time stamps it um, you know, quite literally, right? It's in the background, um, but it's verifying, right? It's auto-proof, it's recording you know, every trip automatically. So I think that's where um, you know, a feature that not a lot of people know about because it's invisible, it's sort of behind the scenes, but it's really important for whether it's a dispatcher, understanding where the vehicle is and also making sure um that uh you know they're getting the verification for whatever contract um you know requirements they have, um, you know, that's always one that we want to emphasize. And again, something that we have to continuously improve. GPS is is not perfect, right? Whether it's you're in a dead zone or um there's there's uh uh time issues, right? We're always trying to improve and triangulate that and make that even better so that that it can be even more accurate. So that even though it's a foundational thing in the background, we still spend a lot of time uh tweak tweaking that.
SPEAKER_00Totally. Well, I yeah, that's that's great. I love the the hidden gem features. Um there's always the the ones that kind of power users rave about. There's ones that um, you know, you you start to notice the benefits kind of after the fact. Um, but uh I'm so broadly speaking, um, there's obviously a lot of places AI could go in in the operation. Um, you know, we've mentioned how there's like the routing, the dispatch billing, customer communication. Um we haven't mentioned compliance yet, but that's another big, big factor. Um, so there's a lot of different problems. Uh curious, like where can AI help most? Like which which one sort of pillar?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, we talked about voice, and I think that's a big that that's a big one. Um, so I'll leave that one aside. I think route optimization is really critical. Um route route optimization is a little bit more mathematical. It's about machine learning. Like that is AI, but that's not the the AI as much uh that people are talking about in terms of agentic uh kind of workflows. So sticking with that that theme, I think around um dispatching, right? I talked a little bit about that on on the voice side, but right, once that that comes in, how are you dispatching that ride, right? Where is the most efficient place uh uh to do it, right? Where we're um within your your driver schedule, your vehicle location, um, you know, making those shifts throughout the day um and making those automatic. You know, that's not something as that is fully uh evolved from an agentic uh uh perspective within our platform, but we're we're starting to develop that. So I think that that dispatch um you know genie agent uh that's on a roadmap, uh, I think would be a really uh you know will be a really cool and powerful tool to um you know make our transportation providers more efficient, right? It starts with uh dispatching and making sure that you're doing that quickly and efficiently. Um and there's a lot of rules on our software and how people like to do that, whether it's based on their contracts or based on uh a preference for uh their business. Um so building that into uh an AI workflow um that has the route optimization piece you know attached to it, that's the the end-to-end uh you know value chain that we're we're trying to drive towards.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it sounds like you you have the right, you know, the right priorities with with um which problems to tackle first. I mean, you mentioned the voice and then yeah, the the um optimization with with routing and and dispatch and whatnot. And um I imagine you know you'd want to like just roll out all these different things all at once in a perfect world, but like at the same time, you do need feedback and like you need to kind of tweak things here and there and see what's working, what's not. Um you don't want to kind of um alienate users with this completely different sort of um experience that they might be accustomed to. So um it's kind of a delicate sort of dance you have to take there, I imagine. Um and there's obviously so there's obviously a lot of like uh challenges facing the industry. Um we've mentioned uh like so there's broker consolidation, you know, Medicaid uh funding pressures, um, some other things that I imagine that you're you're have to deal with, um driver shortages, uh again, like the compliance with with 50 different, there's 50 states you have to work with, all with different sort of regulations. Um, and then there's everything happening with autonomous vehicles looming um on the horizon, which is pretty fascinating. The technologist in me is it gets my eyes light up when I hear that. Um if we look, let's say five years out, like what's what's the one trend that changes everything in this industry? Is it is it the auto, the self-driving cars or yeah, I think that's part of it.
SPEAKER_02I think um I think yeah, we got to set aside the obvious ones a little bit. We've talked about AI, you know, payer accountability and and rising sort of demand um as the population evolves. Um so I think putting those aside, I think it is about the interconnectedness of the industry, right? Um and I think using whether it's payer eligibility, verification, dual eligibility, matching the supply, public transportation, you know, these other sort of buzzards, microtransit, paratransit, all those things like you mentioned rideshare a few times. Part of that is autonomous vehicle fleets, um, which are going to be connected to those rideshare platforms. Putting all of those things together, you know, some cities and some states have done that in certain capacities. And, you know, whether it's scooters on your public transit app, you know, that that's a start. Um, that that that use case is not as relevant for medical transportation. But, you know, I think putting all those things on the map and connecting all those things um in in the right counties and states is going to be uh a huge unlock over the next five years. Um and and you know, we think it starts with, you know, uh the member and eligibility and the payer and the transportation provider being as efficient as as possible. And and those transportation providers are being really innovative and and finding ways to do that themselves, leveraging our our platform, um, and then you know starting to push into those more more unique use cases where you've the expectation is you're you're connecting all those things together. Um so I think that interconnectedness is kind of where the industry heads over the next few years and and I think uh makes it really exciting around partnerships and how different organizations are working together to accomplish those goals.
SPEAKER_00All right. Well, there's lots of lots of exciting things to keep our eyes on, um, it sounds like. And um uh I I want to give, you know, we're coming up on our time, and I want to give you sort of this elevator pitch moment. Um, there are obviously some providers, brokers listening to this podcast right now who are who are still sort of living with the antiquated, you know, analog technology we keep talking about, this phone and paper sort of life. Um if prospects only knew one thing about your company Route GD, what would it be? Like what would you like to tell them and and hammer home?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, you kind of mentioned our our our mission earlier is to connect people to the care um that they need by by powering the technology that moves them. So I think that that mission is what I would I would say I want to want to stick with uh people listening to this podcast or potential um you know future customers. That's what we're driving towards and and helping, you know, our our customers be as efficient as possible running running their business. So um I would I would leave them with that.
SPEAKER_00Perfect. All right. Well, um, one last question before we wrap up, and this one is you know uh kind of a selfish question because I always just want to beef up my reading list. Um, but you've had an interesting uh path. You you've uh worked in consulting, you've uh got a business school, literally went out and you know, bought a company, you're you're you're you're helping uh you know tackle the headaches of of the healthcare industry. Um somewhere along the way, obviously you've you've something has shaped how you lead. So my question is like what what's a book, a podcast, a resource that has really had a major impact on your leadership style?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, one that I really like, um a book, uh, and an operations leader that I worked for um a few years ago made it sort of a requirement and bought this for everyone that that joined the company, um which I thought was really cool. And and uh the book happened to be one that has really stuck with me. So um the uh the book's called Hard Thing About Hard Things. Um, and it's by Ben Horwitz. Um, you know, some of it uh is about, you know, business leadership and growth and and just doing hard things and making hard decisions. Um and a lot of it I think comes to you know focus, which is one of our core values, right? There's a lot of noise, there's a lot going on. Um, so really focusing on what's that that one true thing that you're driving towards um is kind of a key theme that comes out of that as well. Um so, anyways, love that book. And um, you know, one of one of a few things that uh helps helps shape how I how I lead.
SPEAKER_00Amazing. All right, I'm I'm literally writing that down. Hard things, uh Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. Um I appreciate that. That's awesome. Um it's going on my list. I'm gonna have to uh I have to give that a read. Um but Cameron, thank you so much. This has been really, really fantastic and um insightful. Um, and I think uh a lot listeners are really gonna um have learned a lot from from hearing uh about your experience and this industry of the NEMT industry. Um for listeners curious about Route Genie and and who would like to learn more, where would they go? Where should what's the best way to get in contact with with your team?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, go to go to routegenie.com, you know, fill out our form. Um happy to engage and and and show you what we're about and and our software and um yeah, follow us on LinkedIn and and YouTube and um connect with us uh in these upcoming conference uh season, and uh we'll we'll be happy to help. Perfect.
SPEAKER_00All right, routegenie.com. Go uh follow Cameron and the team over on LinkedIn. Uh links will be down below in the description. But um thanks again, Cameron. I really appreciate this and uh hope to have you back one of these days. Thanks, Bo. This was great, really appreciate it. Thank you all for listening to the SourceForge podcast. I'm your host, Bo Hamilton. Make sure to subscribe to stay up to date with all of our upcoming B2B software related podcasts. I will talk to you in the next one.