Protected transport: Minnesota's secured ride level for riders at risk
Protected transport is mode 6 of Minnesota Medical Assistance NEMT, for a rider a crisis team or hospital practitioner has assessed as unsafe in any other ride. A MnDOT-certified provider carries them in a vehicle, never an ambulance or squad car, fitted with safety locks, a video recorder, and a see-through partition between rider and driver. From July 1, 2026 it pays $75 per trip plus $2.54 per loaded mile.
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Where protected transport fits
Minnesota’s NEMT statute (section 256B.0625, subdivision 17) gives every Medical Assistance ride a numbered mode, from 1 to 7. Protected transport is mode 6. It sits between the lift or ramp mode (5) and the stretcher mode (7), and it serves riders whose prescreening found every other kind of transportation inappropriate.
The statute defines the ride by its vehicle and its provider. The vehicle must have:
- Safety locks.
- A video recorder.
- A transparent thermoplastic partition that separates the passenger compartment from the driver.
Ambulances and police cars do not count, however they are equipped. The company itself must hold protected transport certification.
For fee-for-service members, DHS administers modes 5 to 7 itself, and the provider bills Minnesota Health Care Programs (MHCP) directly. For members of a health plan, DHS tells providers to contact that plan for its process. For the wider picture of crisis rides, psychiatric discharges, and secure transport in other states, see our guide to behavioral health transportation.
How a ride gets certified
- Assessment. A county mental health crisis team fills in form DHS-6715, judging the rider’s needs at the moment the ride is requested. For a stabilized patient moving from a hospital to another facility less than 100 miles away, a licensed practitioner on the hospital staff may complete the form.
- Scope. Each approval is good for one trip or one leg, on one date.
- Reporting. The team or hospital faxes or securely emails the approved form to the DHS medical review agent within 48 hours. The agent has 48 hours to enter the certification in the member’s record.
- Booking. The rider, or the crisis team on their behalf, finds an enrolled protected transport provider in the MHCP Provider Directory.
Confirm the rider’s Medical Assistance eligibility before the trip. DHS says that eligibility plus a protected transport certification is the only way to be sure of payment.
What the provider needs
| Requirement | Rule |
|---|---|
| Certification | MnDOT certifies the company for protected transport. Its inspectors test the locks, recorder, and partition as part of the vehicle inspection, which happens at least annually. |
| Enrollment | The company enrolls with MHCP, and every driver enrolls individually. |
| Crew | Two people, a driver and an attendant. The only exception is a rider coming straight from emergency department stabilization on a trip shorter than 100 miles. |
| Training | Six hours or more of de-escalation training for every driver and attendant. DHS accepts Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) courses, Mental Health First Aid, or an equivalent formal program. A crisis team member who completes the 40 hours of yearly crisis training meets the standard. |
| Assistance | Whatever help the rider needs door-through-door: out of the home to the van, in and out of the seat, buckling up, and inside the clinic to the check-in desk. |
| Incidents | Any incident during a ride is reported to DHS by encrypted email, with the rider, driver, attendant, locations, what happened, how it was resolved, and whether anyone was hurt. |
Trip records follow the general NEMT rules in subdivision 17b: each trip must be traceable to a specific vehicle and driver, with pickup and drop-off times, odometer readings, and signatures.
Codes and rates
Protected transport bills under two codes with the UA modifier, plus origin and destination modifiers.
| Code | Service | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| T2003 UA | Base (pickup), must include an attendant | $75.00 per trip, up to 2 units per line |
| S0215 UA | Loaded mileage | $2.54 per mile from July 1, 2026 ($2.49 from April 1, 2026; $2.40 from January 1, 2026) |
The statute sets the $75 base and a $2.40 mileage rate, and the mileage rate moves each quarter with Minnesota gas prices when the average tops $3.00 a gallon. Mileage starts with the first mile the rider is in the vehicle. Rural and super rural add-ons apply based on the rider’s home ZIP code. Hold the claim for five days or more after the ride, because the certification takes up to four days to reach the member’s record.
The rate paragraph in the statute originally carried a July 1, 2026 end date for fee-for-service. Chapter 121 of the 2026 session laws replaced that date, so the rates now last until DHS puts its new NEMT administrator under subdivision 18i in place. Our Minnesota NEMT rates guide covers the other modes.
Secure transport outside Minnesota
Other states build the same idea under different names. Colorado’s behavioral health secure transportation benefit requires county licenses and vehicle permits, and providers enroll with HCPF as provider type 97, specialty 773. Starting July 1, 2025, the benefit moved into the capitation paid to Colorado’s Regional Accountable Entities, and a provider now needs a contract with its regional entity to get paid.
Oregon approves secure transport providers through the Behavioral Health Division of the Oregon Health Authority, which issues a two-year certificate for carrying people in custody or on diversion to approved facilities. The county mental health director backs each application with a letter, and the vehicle needs a secured rear seat behind a safety shield, window guards in that area, and no inside door handles or locks there (OAR 309-033-0432). The Minnesota state guide covers the rest of Minnesota’s NEMT system.
In HealthRide, each leg’s trip log holds the driver, the vehicle, timestamps, and GPS miles in one place, and it exports from Reports when a payer asks to see a trip.
Frequently asked questions
- Who can certify a rider for protected transport in Minnesota?
- Usually the county mental health crisis team, on form DHS-6715. When a stabilized patient is going from a hospital to another facility less than 100 miles away, a licensed practitioner on the hospital staff may fill in that form instead. An approval is good for one trip or leg on one date, and the form must reach the DHS medical review agent within 48 hours.
- Does protected transport need an attendant?
- Yes, in almost every case. Two staff ride along, a driver and an attendant. The one exception is a rider coming straight from stabilization in an emergency department on a trip shorter than 100 miles in total. There is no separate attendant payment, because the $75 base rate assumes one is on board.
- Do providers have to offer protected transport around the clock?
- No. DHS does not require protected transport providers to run 24 hours a day or to keep set hours, and no provider has to offer the service at all. Pickup times depend on which certified providers are available when the ride is requested, and riders or crisis teams find them in the MHCP Provider Directory.
- Is protected transport only for mental health crises?
- No. DHS uses crisis teams for the assessment because they are reachable at any hour, but its guidance says the service is not limited to people in a mental health crisis. The test is whether the rider can safely use other NEMT and whether an ambulance would be inappropriate.
