Medicaid fee schedules: where the maximum rate for each code is published

What a fee schedule tells you

Think of the fee schedule as fee-for-service Medicaid’s price list. For each billing code it shows the amount the state pays, and it often splits that amount by modifier, region, or provider type. For transportation, expect a base rate per trip for each vehicle type, a per-mile rate, and a few extras such as waiting time or an additional rider.

The schedule sets a ceiling, not a guaranteed payment. Under a lesser-of rule, the state pays your billed charge when it is below the listed rate. Illinois pays transportation that way, which is why your usual and customary charge matters. The listed rate also says nothing about coverage.

Every state must now publish its rates

Under 42 CFR 447.203, states had until July 1, 2026 to put every fee-for-service fee schedule rate online where the general public can see it. The rule sets the format too:

• The rate page must be reachable from a link on the state Medicaid agency’s website.
• The rates must be laid out so anyone can tell what Medicaid would pay for a given service.
• Where rates vary by adult or child, provider type, or location, each version must be listed separately.
• The page must show when rates were last updated, and a change must be posted no later than one month after it is both approved and in effect.

To find your transportation schedule, start at the state Medicaid agency’s provider pages and look for fee schedules or rates. The transportation chapter of the provider manual may point to it as well, as Arizona’s does.

Reading a transportation fee schedule

Arizona’s fee-for-service NEMT schedule, effective October 1, 2026, is a good one to learn on: one row per code and modifier, with a rate for each. Trips starting outside the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas count as rural and carry the TN modifier.

Other states organize the same information differently. Illinois lists its non-ambulance rates county by county, and the base rate a company receives depends on the county it registered in with the state. South Dakota lists community transportation codes, rates, and modifiers on its transportation fee schedule, and mileage that meets its coverage rules is billed in addition to the base fee. The billing codes guide explains what each code covers.

How broker and health plan rates relate

State fee schedule rates cover the trips the state pays for directly. On trips a broker or health plan manages, what you earn is set by your agreement with that broker or plan. In Virginia, MTM Health pays from a Schedule A rate sheet it keeps for the state. Some states tie those rates back to the fee schedule, as Louisiana does by making the state rate its broker’s floor.

Medicaid health plans, and brokers in states such as Kentucky and Arkansas, are paid by the state through capitation, not through the fee schedule. That is why a broker’s rate can land above or below the state’s number. Our guides on what Medicaid pays for NEMT and broker rates compare real figures.

Pricing trips by payer

In HealthRide, every payer gets its own rate schedule. Trips are priced from it when they are booked, and completed trips roll into invoices at those rates.