Andi Thayer, I Am Modivcare

Andi Thayer, Provider Relations Director, South Portland, ME

Modivcare held its inaugural National Meeting in January 2022, and as part of the meeting, we recognized many of our team members who contribute to our purpose of making connections to care across the business in a formal awards celebration. Andi was announced as the recipient of the 2021 Provider Relations Director of the Year - Northeast award.

We had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Andi as part of our #IAmModivcare series and learning more about her.

What top 3 traits make you a great Provider Relations Director? At my true core, I pride myself on maintaining:

1. A Sense of Purpose that is wholeheartedly adopted and can sustain you regardless of the challenges you face.
2. Inherent Integrity so that you can be fair and honest when no one is watching, accountable to those who depend on you and have the fortitude to complete everything just because you said you would.
3. A Sense of Humor so that when stuff happens—and it will—you can laugh while learning and do better the next time.

Tell us something most people would be surprised to learn about you. 

I was raised on a family dairy farm. Milking cows, throwing hay, driving tractors, and shoveling you-know-what alongside my family. After my husband and I were married, we started our own horse farm where we board, own and train American Quarter Horses. I come to work each day to rest my poor back and knees.

What is your favorite part about being a Provider Relations Director (PRD) at Modivcare, and why? 

My favorite part about being a PRD is representing our critical business partners. My place at the table is to champion the relationship that is most visible to the members we serve: our transportation providers. Our members may not remember who answered their initial call or understand what we all do to get their trip requests approved, secure a transporter and then get a vehicle to their door, but they always remember the friendly face that shows up to take them to their doctor's appointment. I remain hyper-aware of that responsibility, as the attention spent supporting this relationship ultimately translates into safe and quality service to our members. Transportation is where tradition meets innovation. Modivcare is prominent in regards to its advancements in technology and processes. But all our behind-the-scenes efforts are to support a “tires on the ground” transaction.

What hobbies do you enjoy? 

For fun, I chase rogue cattle at breakneck speeds! No really, I am the President of the Maine Team Penning Association and compete all over the Northeast. Team Penning and Ranch Sorting are timed, mounted, cow-horse events where the fastest time wins.

Please tell us a story about one of your most meaningful days as a Provider Relations Director and why it was impactful to you.

My most meaningful time as a PRD came as we endured the second year of the pandemic. All the efforts that I had spent towards fostering good relationships with our transportation providers (TPs) allowed me to call on them with two critical functions (far outside of our scope of work) and have them respond with enthusiasm and purpose without a moment's hesitation.

Seemingly overnight, we used our network of TPs to deliver meals to families that were nutritionally insecure and unable to access the schools where they would have received meals. When it was all said and done, our Maine transportation provider network delivered more than 22,000 hot meals directly to the homes of Maine’s most susceptible school-aged families. 

A few months later, Modivcare was contacted by the state's governor to transport any transportation-dependent citizen to vaccination sites. Within one week, we mobilized every available vehicle and driver that could be found to fulfill this need. Our network pulled out every available transportation provider and vehicle and delivered them to our disposal. We ended up transporting 4,500 non-members above and beyond the daily volume of our eligible members to vaccine access sites to keep our communities safe.