RTEC provider guide: Medicaid rides in southeastern Kentucky's Region 12

RTEC and Region 12

RTEC, or Rural Transit Enterprises Coordinated, Inc., is a nonprofit public transit operator headquartered at 100 Main Street in Mount Vernon, the seat of Rockcastle County. It began community transit service for the general public in July 1990, in a single county, and grew into a rural system spanning many counties. The Transportation Cabinet chose RTEC as the Medicaid ride broker for Human Service Transportation Delivery (HSTD) Region 12.

Two facts shape the job for a carrier. First, RTEC operates a big fleet itself. The Cabinet’s transit asset plan, updated August 25, 2026, counts 240 RTEC vehicles: 162 cutaways, 38 minivans, 27 vans, 7 SUVs, 4 buses, and 2 cars. RTEC reports a lift or ramp on more than 75 percent of its buses. Second, Region 12 is among the best-paid regions per member. When DMS and the Cabinet briefed legislators in November 2025, Region 12’s capitation stood at $13.95 per member per month, behind only LKLP’s Region 5 at $14.69.

RTEC’s public transit reaches past Region 12. Its transit service area takes in Taylor County, which belongs to LKLP’s Region 5 for Medicaid trips.

The FTSB provider guide walks through the statewide steps every subcontractor takes, from operating authority to Medicaid enrollment and broker pay dates, and the Kentucky state guide lists all 15 regions and their brokers. The sections below cover RTEC alone.

How an RTEC ride ticket comes together

RTEC handles eligibility before any carrier is involved. When a Medicaid rider calls, a reservationist looks up coverage in KYHealth-Net, enters the appointment in RTEC’s dispatch software, and submits it for approval or denial. An approved trip stays with an RTEC vehicle or is passed by ride ticket to one of RTEC’s network carriers.

Riders have to live in Region 12 to use Region 12 Medicaid trips, and they call three days ahead. On a first call, a new rider supplies:

• First and last name, birth date, and a phone number.
• A physical address and directions for finding it.
• A Medicaid number, a Social Security number, or both.
• Where and when to be picked up and dropped off, for the trip out and the trip back.

Return legs often have no fixed time. RTEC asks the rider to estimate when the appointment will end, take RTEC’s number along, and call once ready, so many return legs end up as will-call trips.

Rider choice applies in Region 12 as it does statewide. KRS 281.874 lets a rider whose eligibility calls for a Type 07 or Type 08 vehicle ask for RTEC or for another eligible subcontractor, and the request still goes through RTEC.

Region 12’s counties, neighbors, and two clocks

Region 12’s twelve counties fall into two groups. Pulaski, Laurel, Rockcastle, Knox, Whitley, Bell, McCreary, and Wayne make up the east side, and Russell, Clinton, Cumberland, and Monroe the west.

The time zone line runs through the region. Under 49 CFR 71.5, Clinton, Cumberland, Monroe, and Russell are on Central time, and the eight eastern counties, Mount Vernon’s included, are on Eastern. Most of RTEC’s rider information states hours in local time, while its Medicaid broker notice uses Eastern. A carrier whose runs cross the line should confirm which clock each ticket is written in.

Four HSTD regions border Region 12. LKLP holds two of them, Region 5 on the west side and Region 13 on the east. FTSB’s Region 11 meets Region 12 at the Madison-Rockcastle county line, and Region 8 sits to the north. Carriers close to those edges may hold subcontracts on both sides. For the long empty miles that come with territory like this, see running NEMT in rural areas.

Service levels and what a carrier must do at the door

RTEC’s published policy sets out three service levels:

• Curb-to-curb. The standard level. The rider boards at the curb without the driver’s help.
• Door-to-door. The driver helps a disabled rider from a facility’s door and onto the vehicle. RTEC may ask for a physician’s statement.
• Wheelchair service. The driver assists the wheelchair user from the threshold of home to the destination facility, including boarding and securement.

RTEC also sets limits for its own drivers. They stay out of riders’ homes and go into a facility only with RTEC management’s prior approval. Its reasonable assistance policy leaves out taking a rider through a residence doorway, helping a rider transfer to or from a wheelchair, help with dressing or feeding, giving medication or oxygen, and carrying a wheelchair user over steps when there is more than one.

Carrying an RTEC ticket for a Type 07 or Type 08 rider brings duties under state law. KRS 281.873 says the carrier escorts that rider to or from the vehicle if the walk takes under five minutes and, if other riders remain aboard, the driver keeps visual contact with the vehicle. Before leaving the vehicle, the driver either turns the engine off or sets a transmission locking device, holding on to the key in both cases. When either condition cannot be met, the carrier supplies one escort per vehicle. The carrier also supplies the escort when a clinician has ordered one for a rider 13 or older.

RTEC’s own escort policy shows what riders are used to. Blind, disoriented, and wheelchair-using riders may bring an escort free of charge, and a parent rides free with a child 12 or younger. Families supply federally approved child seats, and a group of five or more children needs two escorts aboard.

Notice, cancellations, urgent care, and weather

Region 12 follows the statewide 72-hour booking rule. A few RTEC specifics matter to a carrier:

1. Cancellations. RTEC takes HSTD cancellations as late as 2 hours before the trip.
2. Urgent care. RTEC can be paged at any hour, every day of the year. It treats a visit as urgent if the rider needs to be seen the same day the request comes in, and on Medicaid-paid trips it may check that need with the doctor’s office or clinic.
3. Holidays. Offices and service close for Christmas, New Year’s, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving. Only urgent care certified by a physician runs on those days.
4. Weather. On hazardous roads RTEC cancels or runs limited service, restarts first on priority snow routes, and returns to its full schedule once every road is safe. State rules likewise confine brokers to routes deemed safe in bad weather. The guide to writing a bad weather policy covers planning your own response.

Joining RTEC’s provider network

First obtain a Kentucky Taxi or Disabled Persons Vehicle certificate, then call RTEC’s central business office (606-256-9835 or 1-800-321-7832). The statewide process follows. RTEC walks through the contract, checks each vehicle, copies your documents, and signs the broker section of each MAP-811 you file with Kentucky Medicaid as Provider Type 56. Under 603 KAR 7:080 the Cabinet must approve the subcontract first, and new providers need at least three approved drivers with a working vehicle for each.

Contacts

• RTEC central business office: 606-256-9835, at 100 Main Street in Mount Vernon (mail to P.O. Box 746, Mount Vernon, KY 40456-0746).
• RTEC toll-free: 1-800-321-7832 (reservations, with urgent care paging after hours).
• RTEC fax: 606-256-4319.
• Riders using TTY: Kentucky Relay 711, or RTEC’s own line, 606-256-2047.
• HSTD customer service hotline: 1-888-941-7433.
• Taxi or DPV certificates: Division of Motor Carriers, 502-564-1257.

Where software helps with RTEC tickets

The return legs that wait for a rider’s call are what make an RTEC day hard to plan. In HealthRide, flexible return trips hold their place on the dispatch board until the rider calls, then activate the moment the passenger is ready. The driver app keeps working without cell service, and each completed trip is saved with its GPS-recorded miles, its times, and the rider’s signature, ready when you bill RTEC.