How to get NEMT broker contracts: find the broker, get credentialed, read the contract
To get a NEMT broker contract, find out which brokers hold the Medicaid and health plan contracts in your area, confirm their networks are accepting providers, and apply to each one. Brokers credential your company, drivers, and vehicles before offering a provider agreement. Read that agreement for rates, service area, performance standards, claim deadlines, and termination terms before you sign.
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What a NEMT broker contract is
A NEMT broker contract is a provider agreement between your company and the broker that manages Medicaid rides in your area. The broker takes ride requests, assigns trips, and pays you for each completed trip at the rates in your agreement.
Brokers exist because states and health plans hire them. Federal rules at 42 CFR 440.170(a)(4) let a state pick a broker through competitive bidding and require that broker to oversee its providers. In Virginia, the Medicaid agency sums up what each broker does: it “enrolls providers, trains drivers, inspect vehicles, negotiates contracts and rates, assigns trips, and pays providers.”
A broker contract gives a new provider access to trip volume it would otherwise have to find on its own. The broker already has the members, the call center, and the trip requests. Your job is to qualify and then perform.
Step 1: Find out which brokers serve your area
The broker that pays you depends on the state and, in managed care states, on each member’s health plan. Start with your state guide. Recent examples show how often this changes:
| State | Broker picture | Recent change |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | Each Medicaid health plan picks its own broker, including MTM Health and Modivcare | Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas Medicaid moves from Modivcare to MTM Health on October 1, 2026 |
| Florida | Each managed care plan hires its own vendor, including Modivcare and MTM Health | AHCA lists each plan’s subcontractors in a quarterly report |
| Georgia | Verida in all five regions | Verida took over the Central, East, and Southwest regions from Modivcare on April 1, 2026 |
| Colorado | MediDrive, one statewide broker | Statewide on January 1, 2027. New companies can start enrolling on October 1, 2026 |
| New York | Medical Answering Services (MAS) statewide | MAS replaced the regional managers in 2023, finishing with Long Island on December 1, 2023 |
| Virginia | Modivcare for fee-for-service and most plans, Access2Care for Anthem | Access2Care is moving to the MTM Health name |
| Montana | Modivcare under a new state contract, taking over enrollment and billing | Anticipated start October 1, 2026 |
| Indiana | WellTrans for Anthem, CareSource, and MHS members in the Healthy Indiana Plan and Hoosier Healthwise | MDwise left those programs on January 1, 2026, ending Modivcare’s rides for its members |
Our broker directory profiles each major broker, including Modivcare, MTM Health, Verida, and SafeRide Health.
Step 2: Check whether the network is open
A broker does not have to take every applicant. Before you spend on vehicles and insurance, find out whether the network in your area is accepting providers.
- Moratoriums. Colorado held a NEMT provider enrollment moratorium from October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2026. New companies can start enrolling again on October 1, 2026.
- Network need. In New York, MAS reviews each network application and decides whether to issue a letter of support. You need that letter before you can apply for state Medicaid enrollment. Verida also reviews each application to decide whether your region needs another provider before it asks for documents.
- Open networks. Some contracts force the broker to take any qualified provider. Rhode Island’s broker must contract with any provider “who is willing and able to meet program requirements.” Even so, MTM Health keeps a Rhode Island waitlist and estimates 8 to 12 months for new providers. Colorado says there is no limit on the number of qualified providers that can contract with MediDrive.
Ask the broker’s provider relations team where it needs capacity, by county, level of service, and time of day. An application that fills a gap the broker already has is an easier yes.
Step 3: Line up state requirements
Some states require you to enroll with Medicaid or hold a state or local license before a broker can credential you. Others let the broker handle enrollment. Federal rules require states to screen and enroll every network provider of a Medicaid health plan (42 CFR 438.602(b)), which is why some states ask broker network providers to enroll with Medicaid as well.
- Florida has a limited Medicaid enrollment for providers that work only inside health plan networks. Its transportation enrollment asks for a local license and an occupational license or business tax certificate, or proof that none is required.
- Virginia providers enroll through the broker, which applies the state’s driver and vehicle requirements.
- Texas uses its claims administrator, TMHP, to enroll certain Medical Transportation Program providers, while health plan members book rides through their plan’s transportation line.
Get an NPI number either way. SafeRide Health and Alivi both ask for it on their application forms, and SafeRide warns that it must be a real one.
Step 4: Apply and get credentialed
Each broker runs its own application and review. The published steps:
| Broker | How the application starts |
|---|---|
| MTM Health | Six stages: application, interview, contracting, credentialing, training, first trip |
| Verida | A request for qualifications form with a driver list and a vehicle list. If the region needs providers, an interview, documents, vehicle inspection, training, and owner orientation follow |
| SafeRide Health | An online application that must be completed within 30 days or it restarts |
| Alivi | A provider interest form with your NPI, counties served, fleet size, and service levels. Alivi’s team calls back within two business days |
| Modivcare | An online form on its transportation provider page, then credentialing, and compliance training at contracting and every year after |
Credentialing covers your company, every driver, and every vehicle. Our broker credentialing guide lists the documents, insurance levels, and renewal rules. Use the credentialing checklist to build your file before you apply.
Step 5: Read the contract before you sign
A broker agreement is a long document, and a few terms decide whether the work pays. Read these closely:
| Term | What to check |
|---|---|
| Rates | Base and per-mile rates by level of service, after-hours or rural rates, and whether wait time or no-shows pay anything. MTM Health, for example, does not pay for no-shows in Rhode Island or Missouri. |
| Rate changes | How and when the broker can change rates, and how much notice you get |
| Service area and hours | Which counties and hours you commit to. Turning back trips inside them can count against you. |
| Trip acceptance and turnbacks | Deadlines to accept and to return trips. MTM Health’s Rhode Island handbook bars same-day turnbacks and requires them at least 24 hours before the appointment. |
| Performance standards | On-time, no-show, complaint, and turnback targets, and the penalties for missing them, such as performance improvement plans or liquidated damages |
| Claims and payment | Claim deadlines, required trip log data, appeal windows, and payment timing |
| Insurance | Limits, additional insured wording, and notice if a policy lapses |
| Technology | Required apps, tablets, GPS, or cameras. Colorado’s transition memo for its statewide broker requires providers to prepare tablets and video and audio recording cameras. |
| Audits and records | What records you keep, for how long, and how fast you must produce them |
| Termination | Notice periods, grounds for termination, and what happens to unpaid claims |
Our broker rates guide shows how to test a rate offer against your costs.
Step 6: Do not depend on one broker
Brokers and plans change often, and one contract is a single point of failure. Georgia moved three regions from Modivcare to Verida in April 2026, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas moves its Medicaid members to MTM Health in October 2026. Modivcare, which called itself the nation’s largest NEMT manager in its 2024 annual report, filed for Chapter 11 on August 20, 2025 and emerged on December 29, 2025.
Spread your risk. Contract with every broker that serves your area if you can meet their standards. Add facility work and private pay so broker changes do not empty your schedule. Our guides to facility contracts and private pay NEMT cover those channels.
Once you are in, volume depends on performance. Our guide on getting more trips from NEMT brokers explains how brokers score providers.
Staying broker-ready in HealthRide
Brokers pull trips when credentials lapse, so HealthRide tracks every driver and vehicle expiration date and sends reminders before anything expires. Expired credentials are flagged during assignment, so they never slip into a schedule unnoticed. The trip log keeps scheduled and actual times, driver, vehicle, and GPS-verified miles for every leg, ready when a broker asks. See fleet and credentials.
Frequently asked questions
- How long does it take to get a NEMT broker contract?
- It depends on the broker, the state, and how complete your application is. Some states add their own steps first. In New York, for example, MAS first decides whether to issue a letter of support, and the state's enrollment decision after that can take 90 days or longer. Have every document ready before you apply so the only wait is the review itself.
- Can a broker refuse to contract with me?
- Yes, in most states. Brokers decide who joins their network based on need and qualifications, and some states pause new enrollments. Colorado held a NEMT provider enrollment moratorium from October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2026. A few contracts require an open network. Rhode Island's broker must contract with any provider willing and able to meet program requirements, yet MTM Health still keeps a waitlist there and estimates 8 to 12 months before a new provider can contract.
- Can I get Medicaid trips without a broker?
- Not where a state or health plan uses a broker. The broker is the only way those members' rides reach you. Virginia tells providers they must enroll with the broker to transport Medicaid members, and Colorado says that from January 1, 2027 providers cannot perform NEMT trips unless they are contracted with MediDrive. Facility and private pay rides need no broker.
- Should I work with more than one broker?
- Usually, if more than one serves your area. In managed care states each health plan picks its own broker, so the broker that pays you depends on the member's plan. Plans also change brokers. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas Medicaid members move from Modivcare to MTM Health on October 1, 2026, and a provider with only one broker loses those trips overnight.
- Do I need Medicaid enrollment before I can get broker trips?
- It depends on the state. Federal rules require states to screen and enroll every network provider of a Medicaid health plan, so some states ask broker network providers to enroll too. Florida has a limited enrollment for providers that work only inside plan networks. In Virginia, the broker enrolls providers directly. Check your state guide before you apply.
- Does a broker contract guarantee a number of trips?
- No. Broker agreements generally do not promise volume. Oregon's CareOregon manual says contracted providers are not guaranteed a specific volume of trips, and brokers assign trips based on availability, vehicle types, level of service, rates, and performance. Rhode Island's broker contract goes further and bars the broker from guaranteeing ridership to providers. Your share grows with your performance and capacity.
- Can I get a broker contract with one van?
- Often, yes. MTM Health's Rhode Island handbook, for example, writes its credential rules to cover providers operating with a single driver or vehicle. One van leaves no backup when a vehicle is down, so plan how you will cover assigned trips before you accept them.
