NEMT dispatcher job description: duties, qualifications, schedule, and a pay range to post

Before you post it

Fill the brackets from your own desk, then delete every line the desk does not need. A dispatcher post should say what the seat is like. O*NET’s survey of dispatchers across all industries reports telephone conversations every day for 100 percent of respondents, strict deadlines every day for 76 percent, dealing with angry or discourteous people every day for 69 percent, and a workweek over 40 hours for 75 percent. Say what yours is really like.

1. Choose the seat. A dispatcher runs the day’s trips. A lead dispatcher or dispatch manager who directs other staff is a different post, and the overtime section below explains why.
2. Fix the shift. Put the first start time, the weekend rotation, and any split shift in the post, since the desk opens before the first pickup.
3. Set the pay line from the BLS figures in the pay section and your own market.
4. Decide where the seat sits. A remote seat in another state brings that state’s rules, covered in hiring a remote dispatcher in another state.
5. Match it to the interview and the checklist. The interview questions and the mock day in hiring a NEMT dispatcher test the duties you list here, and the dispatcher checklist turns them into a daily routine.

The job description

Paste the text below into your job board or careers page, then replace each bracket with your own details.

About the job

[Company name] provides rides to medical appointments for [dialysis patients, seniors, Medicaid members, and hospital discharges] across [service area]. You run the board. Each trip you assign is a ride someone is counting on, and you keep it on time or flag the problem early.

What you will do

• Build each day’s schedule in [dispatch software] and assign every trip to a driver and vehicle that match the rider’s level of service.
• Review the trips each broker offers in its portal ([portal names]), accept the ones we can cover, and turn back the rest before the broker’s deadline.
• Confirm tomorrow’s pickups with riders and facilities, and answer their calls about changes and delays.
• Dispatch will-call returns and hospital discharges to the closest suitable driver as soon as the rider is ready.
• Follow trips as they run, spot late pickups early, and warn the rider, the facility, and the broker as each program requires.
• Be the drivers’ first call: answer questions, relay changes, and record no-shows and waits by our procedure.
• Record cancellations, changes, and incidents so billing can close the day without questions.
• Report accidents, complaints, and safety concerns to [manager] and to the broker within the contract’s deadline.
• Write a shift handoff so the next dispatcher knows every open item.

What this job does not include

• Deciding a rider’s level of service or giving medical advice. You follow the authorization on the trip.
• Promising a ride that a broker or payer has not authorized.
• Giving trip details to anyone who is not entitled to them. You verify who is calling, and share rider information only with the rider, the rider’s caregiver or representative, or the rider’s health care provider.
• [Driving routes, unless you are cross-trained and scheduled to.]

What you need

• [High school diploma or GED.]
• [__ months] of dispatch, call center, or scheduling experience (a plus, not required).
• Accurate typing and data entry: names, addresses, and times must be right the first time.
• Comfort learning dispatch software and broker web portals.
• Knowledge of [service area] roads, or the willingness to learn them quickly.
• Clear speaking and listening on the phone [in English and (language)].
• Calm under pressure with callers who are upset about a late ride.
• Willingness to complete [background and exclusion list checks our contracts require] and privacy training before you see rider information.

Working conditions

• Sit at a workstation with [two screens and a headset] for most of a [__]-hour shift.
• Be on the phone for most of the shift, with the busiest hours at [first hour of the day and mid-afternoon].
• Make quick decisions when a trip changes with little notice.
• Work [weekends and holidays on a rotation].

Applicants and employees with disabilities can ask for reasonable accommodations.

Schedule and pay

• Shift: [start and end times]. Days: [days of the week].
• Pay: $[] to $[] per hour, based on [experience].
• Overtime is paid at 1.5 times your regular rate after 40 hours in a workweek.
• [Health insurance, paid time off, retirement plan.]

How to apply

[Link or address.] Send [a resume or work history]. Next steps: [phone screen, a short work sample, an interview, offer, checks, training].

[Company name] is an equal opportunity employer. Hiring decisions rest on qualifications, never on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or another protected status. To request an accommodation during hiring, contact [name, phone, email].

What pay range should the post show?

Start from the BLS range for dispatchers in your industry group, then adjust for your local market. The May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics list 5,170 dispatchers (occupation 43-5032) in NAICS 4859, other transit and ground passenger transportation, the industry group that holds special needs transportation. Their hourly pay was $18.00 at the 25th percentile, $21.21 at the median, and $23.55 at the 75th percentile, with an annual median of $44,110.

Those are national figures. Wages vary by city, so use them to bracket your own offer rather than as the offer. Posting a range is required in some states, and the rules differ on who is covered and how wide a range can be, which the pay ranges guide sets out. The driver job description shows a pay line inside a full post.

Hourly or salaried: why the post says hourly

Post the job as hourly with overtime unless the person runs the desk and the people on it. The reasoning behind the administrative exemption is in hiring a NEMT dispatcher. Two points matter for the wording of the post.

First, the weekly salary floor is $684, or $35,568 a year. A technical amendment published May 15, 2026 confirmed it: the Department of Labor removed the text of the 2024 rule that federal courts vacated and restored the earlier text. A salary above that floor still does not make a dispatcher exempt, because 29 CFR 541.200 also requires a primary duty that includes discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance.

Second, a dispatch manager is a different case. The executive exemption in 541.100 pairs the same salary floor with a primary duty of managing the business or a department, regular direction of the work of two or more other employees, and authority over hiring and firing, or recommendations that carry particular weight. Check the duties and your state’s wage rules before you pay anyone a salary instead of an hourly rate.

The broker side of the week

Part of a dispatcher’s day is trips that are days away, not only today’s board. MTM Health’s Virginia handbook shows the pattern. Trips go to eligible providers seven days before the appointment. Five days before, the marketplace opens every available trip in the provider’s service area for acceptance. Four to five days before, the broker’s own dispatchers start calling providers to confirm acceptance, including trips not yet offered and offers still pending in the portal. A provider that cannot cover an assigned trip is expected to turn it back at least 24 hours before pickup.

List each broker’s cycle in the post, since working it is part of the job. The response standards that sit on top of the cycle, such as will-call return times, are in the guide to hiring a dispatcher.

What the post should say about rider information

Say that the dispatcher completes privacy training before seeing rider details and shares trip information only with people entitled to it. For a covered entity, the HIPAA privacy rule at 45 CFR 164.530(b)(1) requires training for every member of the workforce as needed to carry out their functions. CareOregon’s NEMT manual adds the dispatcher’s side: it tells providers that dispatchers do not give member or trip information to a caller without verifying the caller’s identity, and limits disclosure to the member, the member’s caregiver or representative, or the member’s health care provider. The HIPAA guide for NEMT covers the rest.

What a new dispatcher opens on the first day

On HealthRide’s dispatch board, a new dispatcher assigns a trip in one motion, and Ryder Go plans the whole day in one click. New trips from the brokers HealthRide connects with, like MTM, Alivi and Sentry, land on your board without anyone retyping them. The live map shows every vehicle, and team chat keeps drivers and the desk in one place.