Alaska Medicaid transportation fee schedule: taxi, wheelchair van, air, ferry, lodging, and meals

How Alaska pays for medical travel

Alaska Medicaid has no NEMT broker. The Department of Health pays enrolled taxi, wheelchair van, lodging, and meal providers directly, one authorized unit at a time, under 7 AAC 120.400 to 120.490. The rules pay for the least expensive mode of travel to the closest appropriate provider when the member has no transportation of their own or through a voluntary source.

Every nonemergency trip needs prior authorization, and only an enrolled healthcare provider can request it. Requests from members are refused. HMS, the Medicaid fiscal agent, authorizes travel statewide, and three tribal health organizations (ANTHC, Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation, and Tanana Chiefs Conference) also approve travel as department travel arrangers. The Alaska state guide covers enrollment and the people involved at each step.

The SFY27 schedule

The current schedule covers July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. The state posted it on August 5, 2026. Every code below requires a service authorization.

An escort’s taxi, bus, ferry, or airline fare goes on the member’s code with the TK modifier, while escort lodging and meals have their own codes, A0200 and A0210. The same schedule lists ground and air ambulance rates. A nonemergency BLS ambulance trip (A0428), for example, pays $233.97 in urban areas and $286.85 with TN, all-inclusive of mileage.

What “billed charges” means for taxis and other carriers

The taxi, bus and other carrier, and airline codes pay your billed charge rather than a fixed rate, and the schedule’s billing notes put three limits on it:

• No Medicaid premium. Charges for a Medicaid member may not exceed what you charge every other passenger.
• One fare for two riders. When a member and an authorized escort ride together, the combined charges may not exceed the total fare for the trip.
• Receipts over $89. Any claim over $89 goes in with copies of both the travel voucher and the taxi’s charge slip.

Charter flights under T2004 cannot exceed what Alaska pays for a medevac. Under 7 AAC 120.410, charter travel is paid only when the department itself, not a designee, decides that waiting for a commercial flight would harm the member’s health.

Wheelchair vans: urban and rural

A0130 pays $35.00 per trip. The urban line carries no mileage. With the TN modifier, the trip pays $35.00 plus $0.69 for each mile, and the TN line requires medical justification as well as authorization.

Rural has a specific meaning here: an area the Census Bureau does not delineate as an urbanized area. The point where the member is picked up decides which rate applies, not the destination. A wheelchair van trip also needs a reason, because the travel manual treats a wheelchair van instead of a taxi or bus as bypassing the least expensive mode, which calls for a letter of medical necessity.

Lodging and meals

Alaska covers accommodations only when an authorized member, and an authorized escort if any, travel to another community for care and cannot reasonably get home the same day. Lodging pays an all-inclusive flat rate of $110.00 a night. The rules that shape each claim:

1. One room. The member and escort share a room. A provider may not bill a higher rate or a second room unless the prior authorization allows it.
2. One lodging unit per night. The voucher shows one unit for each night of the stay, whoever is staying.
3. One meal unit per person per night. A meal unit covers three meals in a row. It pays what the food actually cost, capped at $36.00 per person per day.
4. Meals from the lodging provider. Food is covered only when an enrolled lodging provider supplies it, and meal vouchers are redeemable only at the hotel where the member is staying.
5. No meals for children under two. They are expected to share the escort’s meals.
6. Basic room rate only. Alcohol, pay television, long-distance calls, tips, laundry, dry cleaning, and meals or lodging for guests who are not authorized escorts are not paid.

Weekend stays are not paid when weekday travel would shorten the trip or when nobody authorized them. Prematernal homes bill the HD modifier at $110.00 a night with meals included, for a pregnant member with no delivery facility at home, for up to 30 days before delivery unless a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or physician assistant justifies more. The ancillary codes entry compares these codes across states.

Escorts

Alaska approves an escort for any member 17 or younger, and for an adult when the department finds the escort medically necessary. The provider must request the escort at the same time as the member’s travel.

Adults qualify without extra justification when they cannot walk even with a cane, walker, or crutches, use a wheelchair, are blind, are receiving cancer therapy, or are having a sedated procedure. Other adults need a Travel Certification of Medical Necessity explaining what the escort will do that the member cannot, and a treating provider can certify that need for up to a year. Since October 1, 2024, an escort on local travel needs no separate authorization.

Three limits apply. Alaska does not pay an escort’s transportation when the member travels by ground or air ambulance. When Alaska pays for an escort, it does not also pay fare for a child aged two or under, unless a medical condition means the child cannot share the escort’s seat. And an escort is not compensated for their time.

Vouchers, bookings, and claims

After HMS or a tribal travel office approves a trip, the provider who asked for it fills out and gives the member one paper Travel Voucher (AK-04) per authorized service. A taxi or wheelchair van voucher holds one unit, so a round trip from hotel to clinic and back takes two vouchers. Lodging and meals for a stay go on one voucher. Only original vouchers are valid; copies, scans, faxes, and emailed vouchers are not paid.

After the ride or stay, the provider fills in its charges (fields 20 and 25), the service dates, totals, and its Medicaid ID on the voucher, then signs it. The signature may not be dated before the service. Keep the completed voucher in your records and bill the authorized units on a CMS-1500.

Commercial flights and ferries are booked by the Medicaid Travel Office, CTM, for travel HMS authorizes. CTM asks for ferry requests by 4 p.m. Friday for weekend travel. CTM also notes that the state will not cover baggage fees, because Alaska Airlines’ free Club 49 program gives Alaska residents two free checked bags on each flight. Under 7 AAC 120.410, a flight rebooked because of weather or an airport closure is paid, but a flight missed for reasons within the member’s control, such as arriving late or without acceptable ID, is not.

Claims must be filed within 12 months of the date of service. The timely filing limit entry compares that with other states.

How long these rates have held

The non-ambulance amounts are the same in every schedule from SFY2024 through SFY2027. The SFY2024 schedule, effective July 1, 2023, already listed the $35.00 wheelchair van rate, the $0.69 rural mileage, $110.00 lodging, and $36.00 meals, and the SFY2025, SFY2026, and SFY2027 schedules repeat them. The SFY27 schedule adds a notice that clerical errors in it do not change any coverage, payment, or authorization rule.

A worked example

Here are two hypothetical authorized services, priced at the schedule maximums.

The rural trip’s return leg needs its own voucher and pays the same again. The meals line pays the actual food bought, so a $28 day pays $28, not $36. For the national code set, see the NEMT billing codes guide.

Keeping the trip record in HealthRide

Alaska vouchers pay one authorized unit at a time, so each ride needs a record that matches its voucher. HealthRide’s driver app records GPS-recorded miles and times for each leg and takes the rider’s signature on screen, and it keeps working in areas without cell service. The trip log exports to CSV or PDF when HMS or an auditor asks for the details behind a voucher.