T2007: Waiting time billing code for NEMT

The official T2007 descriptor

The CMS HCPCS file for October 2026 lists T2007 as “Transportation waiting time, air ambulance and non-emergency vehicle, one-half (1/2) hour increments.” It was added in January 2003 and carries Medicare coverage code I, not payable by Medicare. The descriptor fixes the unit: one unit is 30 minutes of waiting.

What T2007 pays for

T2007 pays for time a non-emergency vehicle and driver spend waiting for a rider, usually at the appointment, so the same vehicle can bring them home. It is billed as an add-on to the trip’s base and mileage lines. Ground ambulances bill waiting under A0420, a separate code.

Not every program pays it. Colorado lists waiting time among the services its NEMT benefit excludes. Nebraska builds usual waiting and standby time into its base rates. In those states, a driver’s wait at a clinic is a cost of the trip, not a billable line. The wait time entry covers how operators plan around it.

How three states treat T2007

California (Medi-Cal). Waiting time for wheelchair and litter vans bills under T2007 at up to $11.30 a unit. Only time past the first 15 minutes counts. The limit is 90 minutes past that grace period, three units, and anything beyond 1.5 hours is not paid. The wait must be for loading the patient, and the claim or an attachment must show the clock time the wait began and ended.

Arizona (AHCCCS). T2007 pays $4.59 per 30-minute unit, urban or rural, effective October 1, 2026. Chapter 14 of the billing manual (revised July 31, 2026) allows it only when the driver actually waited at the medical service location because returning to base or the pickup point was not practical. Arizona does not pay wait time:

1. When the odometer reading changes between the drop-off and the pickup.
2. On a one-way trip.
3. When two different vehicles or drivers handle the round trip.
4. When the wait is under 30 minutes.
5. When the medical service is 10 miles away or less.

With several members on board, Arizona pays waiting time for one member only.

Colorado. Waiting time is excluded from the NEMT benefit, along with cancellations and trips where no transport was provided.

Where waiting time claims fail

• Billing the grace period. Medi-Cal does not pay the first 15 minutes.
• No clock times. Medi-Cal wants the start and end of the wait documented.
• Billing a wait when the van left. In Arizona, a changed odometer means no wait time.
• Billing every rider. Arizona pays one member’s wait on a shared trip.
• Billing where it is excluded. In Colorado and in base-rate states like Nebraska, there is no T2007 line to bill.

For documentation rules that support a wait, see NEMT documentation requirements. For the full code list, see NEMT billing codes, and for the claim process, see how to bill Medicaid for NEMT. When a rider does not show, HealthRide keeps the driver’s recorded wait time with the trip.