Sandy Valley Transportation Services provider guide: Kentucky Medicaid rides in Region 14

SVTS and its five Big Sandy counties

Sandy Valley Transportation Services, Inc. (SVTS) is the Medicaid ride broker for Region 14 of Kentucky’s Human Service Transportation Delivery (HSTD) program, which covers Floyd, Johnson, Magoffin, Martin, and Pike counties in the east. SVTS describes itself as a nonprofit demand-response public transit system that has served those five counties since 1990. Federal rural transit money flows through it: SVTS is the area’s Section 5311 provider for public and intercity service and its Section 5310 lead agency.

For the statewide steps every subcontractor follows, see the FTSB provider guide and the Kentucky state guide. This page sticks to what SVTS adds in Region 14, starting with its driver rules.

What SVTS asks of every driver

SVTS puts its driver rules in writing on a training page that covers “SVTS’ and the subcontractors’ drivers.” They go beyond the state minimum in a few places, so read them before you hire for a Region 14 route.

Before any HSTD driving, a driver needs:

• A Department of Transportation physical examination.
• A TB skin test.
• A conviction record check and a driving history check.
• Training in alcohol testing awareness, defensive driving, passenger assistance with safety and sensitivity, and wheelchair lift and securement.

Once a driver starts HSTD work, first aid, basic CPR, and bloodborne pathogens training must be finished inside 90 days. SVTS says it provides all of that training free through a Rural Transit Assistance Program grant and contracts with Our Lady of the Way Hospital in Martin for the first aid, CPR, and bloodborne pathogens trainers. The CPR and first aid guide covers keeping those certificates current.

The page also sets conduct rules:

• Age. At least 21, where 603 KAR 7:080 sets 18.
• Record. No more than two moving violation convictions in three years, no sexual crime or crime of violence, and no drug or alcohol offense in the last five years for a driver or attendant. A felony in the last five years needs review by SVTS, the subcontractor, and the Cabinet, and 603 KAR 7:080 sends any misdemeanor or felony in that window through the same review.
• Testing. Pre-employment, random, reasonable suspicion, and post-accident drug and alcohol tests. The Cabinet administers the random tests.
• On the job. No headphones, no tobacco, food, or drink in the vehicle or while helping a rider, and a safety belt on the driver at all times.

Because the page is SVTS’s own wording, ask the Prestonsburg office which standards it enforces today, especially the age of 21.

Which SVTS office and number should a carrier use?

A carrier calls the central office in Prestonsburg or the Pikeville office. The phone number on the Cabinet’s broker list, 606-886-7039, is SVTS’s fax line.

• Central office, Prestonsburg. 81 Resource Court, Prestonsburg, KY 41653. Call 1-800-444-7433 or 606-886-1936.
• Pikeville office. 805 Hambley Boulevard, Pikeville, KY 41501. Call 1-877-330-7287 or 606-433-1936.

SVTS’s own contact page gives 606-886-7039 as its fax, and the Pikeville fax is 606-433-1939. On the toll-free line, pressing 1 reaches intercity scheduling, 2 reaches cash and bill scheduling, and 4 leaves an after-hours message with a callback number.

How do Region 14 riders book?

SVTS accepts reservations with three days’ notice, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Normal scheduling may not be offered on New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and urgent care transportation runs around the clock. That matches the state’s 72-hour rule and the urgent care exceptions in the Kentucky state guide.

SVTS’s rider rules ask callers to give an escort’s details when one is medically necessary, to cancel a trip as soon as possible, and to bring complaints to the broker at 1-800-444-7433 or the Cabinet at 1-888-941-7433.

What does SVTS do when it snows?

On a snow morning, SVTS’s dispatcher and driver supervisor make every effort to be at the SVTS office by 5:00 a.m. In heavy snow or on snow-covered roads, drivers are told not to leave home until dispatch calls. The two of them then decide whether to run normally, run partial service on days when main roads are clear and side roads are not, start two hours late, or not run at all.

Two details matter to a carrier. Dialysis comes first: SVTS uses its all-wheel-drive vehicles to take dialysis riders at their regular time when it can, and it calls dialysis patients first if it will not run. And SVTS’s drivers, not dispatch, contact their own riders once the decision is made. For a policy of your own, the bad weather policy guide and the rural NEMT guide cover the choices.

SVTS’s own buses and public rides

SVTS runs a fleet of its own beside the Medicaid network. The Cabinet’s asset plan, revised August 25, 2026, lists 132 SVTS vehicles: 95 cutaway buses, 22 minivans, 12 SUVs, 2 buses, and 1 van. The 2026 Kentucky Public Transit Association directory describes a fleet of 75 vehicles, so ask SVTS how many of its units are on Medicaid runs.

Its public service is open to everyone. A cash fare costs $5.00 for 10 miles or less and $0.50 a mile beyond that. Intercity rides cost $0.30 a mile, and SVTS says it goes daily to Lexington, Ashland, and Hazard. Dial-A-Ride reaches each of the five counties twice a month.

Region 14 sits between two LKLP regions

Region 14 touches only two other HSTD regions, and the same broker holds both. LKLP has Region 13, where Floyd, Magoffin, and Pike meet Knott, Letcher, Breathitt, and Wolfe, and Region 15, where Johnson, Magoffin, and Martin meet Lawrence and Morgan. Pike County also borders Virginia and West Virginia, and Martin County borders West Virginia.

All five counties keep Eastern time under 49 CFR 71.5(c), as do Regions 13 and 15, so a ticket written at the Region 14 border needs no clock conversion. A carrier on one of those edges can hold subcontracts with both SVTS and LKLP, and working with several brokers covers keeping the accounts apart.

What does Region 14 pay?

The November 2025 briefing to lawmakers puts Region 14 at $11.15 per member per month, with only five of the 15 regions higher. That capitation is what SVTS earns, not your trip rate, and the Kentucky Medicaid rates guide has every region’s figure.

Contacts

• SVTS central office: 81 Resource Court, Prestonsburg, KY 41653, 1-800-444-7433 or 606-886-1936, with fax at 606-886-7039.
• SVTS Pikeville office: 805 Hambley Boulevard, Pikeville, KY 41501, 1-877-330-7287 or 606-433-1936, fax 606-433-1939.
• Operating authority: Division of Motor Carriers, 502-564-1257.
• Ride denials and complaints: Transportation Cabinet, 1-888-941-7433.
• Relay service (TTY): 1-800-648-6056.

Keeping Region 14 driver credentials current in HealthRide

SVTS asks for a DOT physical, a TB skin test, first aid, CPR, and more, each with its own date. In HealthRide each driver’s credential dates sit in one place, and reminders arrive before they lapse, so an expiration does not catch you off guard. Each driver’s start-of-shift van check happens in the app as well.