MediTrans provider guide: driving Healthy Louisiana members in every parish

MediTrans in brief

MediTrans brokers Medicaid rides for Louisiana’s managed care plans from its base in Lafayette. Paul Broussard started the company in 2003 to drive patients in Acadiana, and it grew by serving behavioral health and medical facilities in the region. Since 2020 it has operated as a Coordinated Transportation Network (CTN), a model it describes as a first for the state.

The network now reaches every one of Louisiana’s 64 parishes. Contracted local companies run the rides alongside a fleet MediTrans owns. By the company’s count, its systems carry over a million trips each year.

It helps to know who answers to whom. A Healthy Louisiana plan pays MediTrans to run rides, yet the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) still holds the plan responsible for each provider in the network. That is why the state’s managed care manual, and not only MediTrans policy, sets the driver, vehicle, and payment rules below. The Louisiana NEMT guide covers the rest of the state program.

The plans behind MediTrans trips

On LDH’s broker list, MediTrans appears beside each Healthy Louisiana plan for regular rides and for non-emergency ambulance (NEAT) trips.

Louisiana has been trimming its plan roster. LDH closed the UnitedHealthcare contract on March 31, 2026 and spread those members across the others. Then, on September 1, 2026, it announced that Healthy Blue members will shift to the four plans that remain on January 1, 2027. All four route rides through MediTrans, so the broker does not change for those members.

Recurring rides still need attention. MediTrans suspends a standing order whenever a member’s coverage lapses or changes, and the facility must resubmit the form to bring it back. Plan for some dialysis and therapy schedules to need that when Healthy Blue members change plans on January 1, 2027.

Traditional fee-for-service members sit outside all of this and ride through Verida. Serving both groups means holding both contracts.

Six steps to a MediTrans contract

MediTrans runs every new company through the same onboarding sequence.

1. Letter of intent. Pull the form from the provider portal, or request it from providers@meditrans.com. Complete it fully and email it back under the subject “New Provider Inquiry.” MediTrans usually replies in 3 to 5 business days.
2. Background checks. Once your letter is approved, MediTrans sends a link to its screening vendor. Each driver completes a criminal check. Results come back in 5 to 7 business days.
3. Insurance certificates. Send them to docs@meditrans.com, naming MediTrans as the holder. MediTrans can supply a sample certificate, and owner-operators without staff can request its workers’ compensation waiver.
4. Document uploads. MediTrans stores files in a system called OurRecords. For each driver, load the license, a drug test result, the CPR and first aid card, a defensive driving certificate, and the background clearance. For each van, load registration, the insurance declarations page, the latest inspection report, inside and outside photos, and ADA paperwork if it has a lift or ramp.
5. Training. Finish the online orientation, the portal training, and the provider handbook, and sign off on MediTrans policies. The company also posts a short online quiz on HIPAA and on fraud, waste, and abuse, which providers and drivers finish by signing an attestation.
6. Activation. You get a provider ID, portal logins, and word that your account is live. Offers begin arriving within a day or two.

Expect the sequence to take about two to four weeks. Nobody is guaranteed a spot. MediTrans looks at how many providers already cover your region and which vehicle types it is short on, then sends a decision letter. Rejected applicants stay in its records in case demand changes. When a broker network is full explains how to use that waiting time.

What your file has to show

The MediTrans list itself is brief. It asks for a business license, a W-9, auto coverage of at least $1 million, general liability, and either workers’ comp or a waiver. LDH’s manual, last updated May 28, 2026, supplies the detail every plan network must enforce. The broker credentialing checklist helps you assemble it.

Company documents

• The Disclosure of Ownership form that 42 CFR 455.104 to 455.106 requires.
• An NPI registered to the business entity, not to a person.
• Proof of your EIN on IRS Form CP 575, or Form 147C if the CP 575 is gone, plus a matching W-9.
• One legal name and one physical address, spelled the way the Secretary of State and the NPPES registry show them, on every document. The same goes for a DBA.
• City or parish permits where they apply. Orleans Parish issues a Certificate of Public Necessity and Convenience, and Jefferson Parish issues an NEMT permit.
• Full coverage of each parish you enroll for, not just the parts near your garage.

Insurance

Before a new van carries anyone, the plan needs the updated policy that lists it. If your coverage drops below the minimum, LDH lets the plan claw back payment for every trip in that gap.

Drivers and training

On top of that, MediTrans wants each driver to have been licensed for three years or more.

Vehicles

Vans must be owned or leased by the company and registered in its name. Louisiana requires a “for hire,” “public,” or “public handicapped” license plate, registered to the business. Signs must look professional (no handwriting and no spray paint) and carry the business name, its phone number, and the unit number on the driver side, the passenger side, and a van’s rear.

A vehicle passes only with an intact windshield, an active Louisiana inspection sticker, and heat and air conditioning that work in front and back. It also needs working seat belts, a belt cutter the driver can reach from the seat, an extinguisher whose pressure gauge reads in the safe zone, and the registration and insurance cards on board. The plan or MediTrans inspects it before its first ride and yearly after that, taking photos along the way. At the vents, the thermometer has to read 52 degrees or lower on cold air and 100 degrees or higher on heat. Wheelchair vans need an ADA-compliant lift or ramp and a full securement system: four-point tie-downs for the chair plus a lap belt and shoulder belt for the rider.

Louisiana bans some vehicles outright: stretcher vans, pickups, two-door cars, and anything with a salvage title. Two NEMT companies cannot share a van, even with common ownership. On the road, a team of four MediTrans field agents makes unannounced spot checks. They look at interiors, odors, lifts, stickers, driver ID badges, hands-free phone use, and smoking. Company changes, such as a new address or owner, must reach MediTrans within 48 hours.

Working MediTrans trips

Everything runs through the MediTrans Provider Portal (providers.meditrans.com). Offers show up there to accept or turn down, next to your daily and weekly schedule. Drivers or dispatchers update each ride through en route, arrived, and completed, and log cancellations and no-shows. Turning down an offer inside 30 minutes costs nothing.

Rides come in four types: ambulatory, wheelchair, stretcher, and critical. Dialysis, chemotherapy, and surgery rides count as critical, and MediTrans allows no lateness on them. Because stretcher vans are not allowed in Louisiana NEMT, stretcher rides end up with ambulance companies.

When a rider is not waiting, give it 15 minutes at a residence or 20 at a facility. Phone the rider, then call MediTrans dispatch (1-844-349-4326). Last, record the no-show with a timestamp in the portal. Never change a route until dispatch approves it.

Louisiana limits physical contact. A driver does not touch a rider unless the rider is approved for ELOC or asks for moderate help getting to, from, into, and out of the vehicle, seat belt included. When a rider asks, the driver also helps them to and from the main entrance at both ends. Hands-on door-through-door help is the ELOC tier, a higher level of care for wheelchair users who need it.

Crashes run on their own clock. The driver takes a drug screen within 12 hours. A written report covering riders, witnesses, injuries, and any citations goes to MediTrans or the plan within 72 hours. The Louisiana Uniform Motor Vehicle Accident Report is due within 15 business days. The rule covers any collision while a rider is in your care, plus any collision that injures or kills one. An incident report keeps those details in one place.

MediTrans grades providers on four measures. It expects on-time performance of at least 95 percent and trip completion of at least 98 percent. It wants complaints on fewer than 2 percent of trips and provider-caused no-shows on fewer than 1 percent.

What earns more trips

LDH’s assignment rules reward a few things you control:

• Stay in your region. When costs tie, plans favor a provider whose main service region, as shown on its Disclosure of Ownership form, is the rider’s own LDH region.
• Protect your standing orders. Recurring dialysis and therapy rides run on standing orders good for 12 months, and LDH wants each one kept with the same company where possible. Fall out of compliance and MediTrans pulls your standing orders until a corrective action plan puts you back in good standing.
• Earn facility loyalty. Facilities booking with MediTrans can name the provider they prefer.
• Take the short trips. Plans are told to watch for companies that pass on local rides in favor of long ones. Doing that repeatedly can cost you volume.
• Know the dispatch order. LDH’s order of preference starts with public transit and with friends or family paid through gas reimbursement. Traditional NEMT companies come next, then rideshare companies, which Louisiana now accepts as a provider class. Within that order, plans pick the lowest-cost option that suits the rider’s level of service, giving some weight to the rider’s own choice of company.

Billing, rates, and disputes

MediTrans wants completion details for a ride within 24 hours and the claim within 365 days. A clean claim clears processing in 7 to 14 business days, and payment goes out every other Friday. MediTrans must accept paper claims, which need 5 business days of processing, but it recommends digital submission through OurRecords as the faster route.

MediTrans names the usual denial causes: signatures left off, mileage errors, blank trip fields, and claims filed late. So record real pickup and drop-off times, use odometer readings rather than guesses, and get the rider’s signature at both ends. LDH adds an electronic daily trip log, sorted by time, and no claim is paid until the plan matches it to a log entry. Each log entry needs:

• the trip ID and the destination, plus the provider or facility name when there is one
• the rider’s name, address, Medicaid ID, and full signature (initials only when the rider cannot write), never signed by staff
• the actual departure and arrival times and dates
• the driver’s full name, the driver’s license number, and the VIN

A ride where nobody was transported cannot be billed. How to bill NEMT brokers covers the broader workflow.

Rates

Your MediTrans agreement sets your rate. By LDH rule, a plan pays no less than the fee-for-service rate in force on the date of the ride, unless your agreement says otherwise. The current state schedule took effect October 1, 2025. It added the ELOC rate and kept the ambulatory and standard wheelchair rates that have applied since January 1, 2022:

Act 969 of 2026 tells LDH to write rules setting at least $14.50 a trip and $2.10 a mile, wheelchair trips included, along with a payment method for shared rides based on how many riders are aboard. It also restricts rides beyond a member’s home parish and the parishes touching it, unless the plan or LDH finds a medical need. None of that applies until a separate act funding it takes effect, and the rate schedule LDH posts still shows the October 2025 figures.

Disputes

Under LDH Informational Bulletin 21-02, as revised September 8, 2026, the broker hears a dispute first.

1. Reconsideration. File with MediTrans billing no later than 180 calendar days after the remittance or denial date. You get a reference number and a decision within 30 days. Corrected claims can go back in up to 365 days after a denial.
2. Appeal. Attach the reconsideration paperwork and send it to appeals@meditrans.com, or by mail to the Billing department at the Lafayette office listed below. For most plans the window is 90 calendar days after the reconsideration decision. Louisiana Healthcare Connections allows 180. MediTrans answers within 30 days.
3. Escalation. Email director@meditrans.com using the subject line “Appeal Escalation.” Still stuck, go to the health plan’s complaint contacts. After that, email LDH at MedicaidTransportation@la.gov and list each earlier attempt.
4. Independent review. Louisiana law offers an outside reviewer in two steps. First, the plan gets its own request form no more than 180 days after the remittance, denial, or recoupment. If its answer leaves you unsatisfied, the second form goes to LDH inside 60 days. The losing side pays the $750 fee.

Appealing a denied NEMT claim walks through building the file.

MediTrans contacts

MediTrans aims to call back the same day and to answer email inside 72 hours.

Keeping the trip log audit-ready

Louisiana pays only what the daily trip log backs up. HealthRide’s driver app timestamps each pickup and drop-off, records GPS miles, collects the rider’s signature on the phone screen, and saves the wait time on a no-show. Van checks happen in the same app at the start of each shift, and reports exports the complete trip log to CSV or PDF.