Bay Cities Brokerage provider guide: OHP rides on the southern Oregon coast

Who Bay Cities Brokerage is

Bay Cities Brokerage (BCB), a Coos Bay company, schedules medical rides for two CCOs in the Oregon Health Plan, one on the southern coast and one in Douglas County. It drives trips too. Bay Cities lists NEMT and ambulance service among its own offerings, and its Roseburg office is located at Umpqua Valley Ambulance, so a contracted provider joins a network where the brokerage also runs vehicles.

The rest of the Oregon Health Plan population in these three counties rides with other services. OHA’s brokerage map sends AllCare CCO members to ReadyRide, Trillium members in western Douglas County to RideSource, and everyone else, open card included, to TransLink. Bay Cities describes its territory as diverse and rural, and says it may book a volunteer driver when that suits a member. Our rural NEMT guide covers the economics of long, thin routes, and the Oregon state guide lists the ride service for each plan and county.

How to apply to Bay Cities Brokerage

Bay Cities recruits through one form.

1. Line up your Medicaid enrollment and NPI. There is a field for your Medicaid provider number on the form. Under OAR 410-141-3565, OHA accepts a provider’s encounter claims only after that provider has enrolled with OHA, as a Medicaid fee-for-service provider or as a managed care encounter-only provider. CCOs use form OHP 3108 to enroll the providers they contract with, and that form asks for an NPI. Our NPI guide covers that step.
2. Download the vendor application. It is a four-page PDF (Rev 2023) linked from the Providers page and each plan’s page. The Advanced Health side takes applications for Coos and Curry. The Umpqua Health side takes them for Douglas County.
3. Complete it and attach your insurance certificates. The insurance block has three lines (general liability, workers’ comp, and vehicle liability), and each needs the insurer and the limits.
4. Wait for the administrator. Bay Cities says an administrator at the brokerage reads each application and then contacts the company to talk about a partnership.
5. Negotiate the contract. Rates, insurance limits, and billing terms are set in the agreement. The form even asks whether you add a charge when several riders travel together from one pickup to one drop-off.

Inside the vendor application

Answer the assistance questions with care. The 2026 Advanced Health rider’s guide tells members that drivers may not transfer them out of bed into a wheelchair, or out of a wheelchair into the vehicle. Our broker credentialing checklist helps you gather the documents before you apply.

Driver and vehicle standards

Both plans are CCOs, so every Bay Cities trip falls under OAR 410-141-3925. Bay Cities says it reviews each provider before contracting and uses only drivers who clear the pre-hire checks set by Bay Cities, Advanced Health, and OHA.

Umpqua Health’s quality policy, CO29, lists what the plan audits at its ride service each year. Those checks land on the companies that actually drive:

• Documents on the day. Each driver holds a valid state license, and each vehicle a current state registration, when the ride happens.
• Background files. Every driver’s file shows checks of criminal history, driving history, and sex offender status, plus drug testing.
• Pre-hire standards. Drivers and vehicles meet OAR 410-141-3925 before the first trip, and drivers report drug law violations and changes to their driving history.
• Training. Proof of training that fits the service level, covers helping riders with disabilities and special needs, and teaches culturally aware service.
• Insurance. Auto liability, general liability, and workers’ compensation stay in force.
• Trip audits. A percentage of each day’s rides is reviewed for the claim record, the pickup and drop-off times, whether the level of transport fit the rider, and how satisfied the rider was.

Vehicles must be clean and carry wheelchair and stretcher securement that meets federal disability law (the ADA and Section 504) and Oregon’s ORS 659A.103. The 2026 rider’s guides list the rest: a working horn, side and rearview mirrors, heating, air conditioning, and ventilation, working lights, turn signals, and wipers, plus a fire extinguisher, first aid kit, flashlight, disposable gloves, tire traction devices, and roadside warning devices. No smoking, vaping, or aerosols in the vehicle.

How trips work

Bay Cities takes bookings on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. After hours, its phone line still answers, day and night, for urgent needs and cancellations. Bay Cities also arranges unplanned after-hours rides, such as hospital discharges, and it calls the clinic or pharmacy to confirm an appointment or prescription pickup. Members should call two business days before a visit, and the booking window reaches 90 days. Caregivers of riders with recurring care, such as dialysis or chemotherapy, can set up standing orders that book trips up to 30 days ahead. Rides are shared by design: the brokerage may add other members along the route, and members may be asked to book several appointments on one day.

• Service levels. Unless the member asks for more, trips run curb-to-curb. Hand-to-hand and door-to-door service are added on request. Drivers may walk a rider to the building’s main entrance but not into exam rooms, and enter a rider’s room only for a hospital discharge or a stretcher transport.
• Tips. Drivers take no cash, fares, or tips from riders.
• Arrival. Drivers let the rider know they have arrived, give the rider at least 15 minutes from the scheduled pickup, and tell the dispatcher before leaving.
• Timing. Riders reach the appointment 15 minutes or more ahead of time, but no earlier than one hour before it. The 15-minute limits around a clinic’s opening and closing apply. A return booked for a set time should see the driver arrive within 15 minutes either side of it, and a will-call rider is picked up within an hour of calling.
• Equipment. A chair is oversized if it measures more than 30 inches across or 48 inches in length, or if chair and rider together top 600 pounds, and the member must flag it at booking. Oxygen tanks travel secured in a carrier.
• No-shows. Not being ready at pickup without calling ahead counts as a no-show, and so does cancelling once the driver is already on the way.
• Trips out of town. Book them as early as possible. The Advanced Health and Umpqua Health plan pages add a hard cutoff: an out-of-town request made after 4:00 p.m. the day before the appointment gets no authorization.
• Extra rides. Advanced Health sometimes covers rides outside the OHP benefit, such as trips to a grocery store or a support group, as health-related services.

Trips move through a provider mobile app. Drivers see what is assigned to them, claim unassigned trips, and set themselves as available or unavailable. The app logs the vehicle, odometer, location, times for each pickup and drop-off, and the rider’s signature when one is needed, then passes it all back for billing. It needs location permission and a data signal to pull trips and submit completions. Bay Cities also tracks when riders are picked up and dropped off, and reports those times to OHA on request.

Weather, incidents, and oversight

Bay Cities’ adverse weather plan grades conditions on four levels, and each one changes what the brokerage expects from you.

Dialysis, chemotherapy, and radiation trips get special consideration throughout. Our bad weather policy guide shows how to write a plan that fits a broker’s levels.

• Incidents. Drivers email Bay Cities within 24 hours, giving the people involved, where and when it happened, a description, any injuries, and any treatment. Umpqua requires its ride service to report injury, death, and abuse incidents within one day so it can tell OHA within two business days. Our incident report template covers each field.
• Rider surveys. Umpqua or its ride service surveys at least 10 percent of riders, who score the driver, vehicle cleanliness, driving safety, and on-time pickup and drop-off.
• Consequences. When problems turn up at its ride service, Umpqua’s options include training, recovering payments, and corrective action plans.
• Billing and records. Members are never billed for covered trips, even when payment is denied. Keep trip records for 10 years, the retention period in OAR 410-141-3520, which covers transportation providers.

Contacts

Running this in HealthRide

Umpqua’s audit asks whether every driver’s license and every vehicle’s registration was current on the day of the ride. HealthRide keeps each license, registration, insurance policy, and certification in one list with its expiration date, sends reminders before renewals come due, and flags anything expired when dispatch assigns a trip. Drivers also check their van at the start of every shift in the app, so each inspection is on record. The fleet and credentials page shows how it works.