From Scrubs to CEO: Why Healthcare Transportation Is a New Path to Serve Patients — Even If You’ve Never Run a Business
From Scrubs to CEO: Why Healthcare Transportation Is a New Path to Serve Patients — Even If You’ve Never Run a Business
Written by- Coach Willena McGee- RN BSN
Burned out at the bedside but not ready to abandon patients? This article explores how service-based healthcare transportation lets you step into CEO while still honoring your calling—and why it’s not a “do it once and you’re done” move.
If you’ve ever sat in your car after a shift and thought:
“I love my patients, but I can’t keep doing this…”
…you’re not alone.
Over the last 5–10 years, hospital leadership and facility management have shifted in ways that directly impact both staff and patients. Short staffing, unsafe ratios, politics, and burnout have become “normal.” Many of us are carrying a level of emotional and physical exhaustion that never had a name.
But here’s the important part:
Most healthcare workers I meet don’t want to leave healthcare.
They want to leave the constant adrenaline, chaos, and disrespect.
That tension—I still care, but I can’t stay here—is exactly where the idea of healthcare transportation as a service-based business fits.
You don’t have to abandon your degree to leave the bedside
As a nurse or healthcare professional, your value is not limited to how many meds you can pass in a 12-hour shift or how quickly you can move through a patient load.
You’ve built:
Critical thinking – you can anticipate problems before they happen.
Crisis management – you know how to respond when things go wrong.
Communication skills – you’ve learned to speak with families, providers, and patients in highly emotional moments.
System awareness – you understand how hospitals, clinics, and payers actually operate.
Healthcare transportation, when it’s done as a true service and not just “driving people around,” lets you bring all of that with you.
You understand why:
On-time arrivals matter for dialysis, chemo, PT/OT, and specialist follow-ups.
Missing appointments doesn’t just inconvenience people—it affects outcomes.
Some patients need more than curb-to-curb. They need someone who notices if they’re short of breath, confused, or not acting like themselves.
You can:
Notice when a client doesn’t look right and encourage them (or their family) to contact their provider.
Offer stability and consistency when their medical team keeps changing.
Provide transportation that feels like an extension of the care plan, not just a ride they hope shows up.
You’re not “just a driver.”
You’re building a care pathway on wheels.
From employee mindset to CEO mindset
Here’s the part many people skip:
Leaving the hospital does not automatically make you a CEO.
Starting a healthcare transportation or NEMT business—especially using a self-pay or service-based model—requires you to learn an entirely new set of skills.
You’ll need to get comfortable with things like:
Pricing and packaging your services
What does one ride actually cost you?
How do you price a package so it’s profitable, not just “cheaper than Uber”?
Building systems and processes
How will you handle scheduling, dispatching, documentation, and follow-up?
What happens if a driver calls out or a vehicle goes down?
Managing finances and forecasting cash flow
How much do you truly need to bring in each month to cover insurance, payments, fuel, and your own pay?
How long is your business prepared to operate before you hit break-even?
Marketing, sales, and relationship-building
Who needs to know you exist?
How will they hear about you, and why should they trust you over larger companies?
Leading a team
Even if it’s just you and one driver, you are now management.
Culture, expectations, and accountability all flow from you.
The paperwork—state applications, licensing, EIN, LLC, basic registrations—is actually the “easy” part. It can be tedious and confusing the first time, but it’s still a checklist.
The real work is:
Unlearning “clock-in / clock-out” thinking
Accepting that no one is coming to rescue you—you are the leadership now
Showing up consistently even when you don’t see instant results
Being willing to make decisions without a charge nurse or manager to ask
This is not a “do it once and you’re done” type of business.
This is planting a tree, not microwaving a meal.
Why a self-pay / service-based model?
Let’s talk about the money side for a moment.
When you rely only on brokers or Medicaid, you’re at the mercy of:
Low, pre-set rates that often don’t reflect your true costs
Delayed payments that can stretch your cash flow thin
Contract changes you didn’t see coming and can’t negotiate
That model might bring volume, but volume doesn’t help if every ride eats away at your margin.
A service-based or self-pay model allows you to build something very different:
Door-through-door experiences – not just dropping someone at the curb, but making sure they get safely to the right floor, clinic, or office.
Memberships and packages – recurring services for clients who need transportation multiple times a week or month.
Concierge services – higher-level support for post-op clients, complex cases, or families willing to pay for peace of mind.
But with that freedom comes responsibility. A service-based model requires that you:
Show up like a brand – consistent colors, messaging, and experience.
Build relationships with providers, discharge planners, case managers, group homes, and families.
Learn how to communicate your value, not just your mileage or price per trip.
You are not competing on “who is the cheapest.”
You are building a business around who provides the most meaningful, reliable care experience on wheels.
Where my frameworks come in
Most clinicians-turned-founders get stuck because they’re trying to build a business in the dark. They know transportation is needed, but they:
Don’t have clear financial projections
Aren’t sure which niche to choose
Feel lost in paperwork and compliance
Have no real marketing or relationship plan
That’s why I created:
The 4-Phase Transportation-Ready™ Framework, and
The 11-step Build It Right From the Start™ method
Together, they provide structure for your transformation from scrubs to CEO.
They help you:
Clarify your foundation – legal structure, business plan, and numbers.
Define your identity and visibility – brand, niche, and message.
Build compliance and operations – applications, policies, and systems.
Focus on revenue and growth – pricing, offers, marketing, and relationships.
It’s not about perfection. It’s about a clear, step-by-step path so you aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel while juggling everything else in your life.
Is this path for you?
Only you can answer that, but here are a few honest questions to sit with:
Am I willing to learn new skills beyond clinical care?
Do I want to keep serving people, just in a different way?
Am I ready to play the long game instead of chasing quick broker checks?
Can I accept that growth may be steady and slow instead of viral and instant?
If your answer is “yes, but I’m scared”, you are exactly who I built my programs for.
You don’t have to pretend this is easy.
You don’t have to act like you’re “fine” when you’re tired of the unit.
You don’t have to choose between your calling and your sanity.
You’re simply shifting where you use your gifts:
From charting at 3 a.m. to mapping out service routes and partnerships
From answering call bells to answering calls from families who trust your company
From feeling trapped in someone else’s schedule to designing a business that supports your life and your legacy
You’re moving from scrubs to CEO—not to escape healthcare, but to serve it in a way that honors both your patients and yourself. Click Here to Learn More
