How to Become an Arizona Complete Health Transportation Provider (2027)

Arizona Complete Health (AzCH) is a Centene health plan that serves AHCCCS, Arizona’s Medicaid program. It is a health plan, not a broker. It pays for its members’ rides, and a vendor books them and assigns them to transportation companies. Since October 1, 2021 that vendor has been MTBA, now part of MTM Health, so a transportation company gets AzCH trips through MTM and also goes through the plan’s own credentialing.

AzCH has more members than any other AHCCCS acute care plan. The AHCCCS enrollment report dated September 10, 2026 shows:

Arizona Complete Health program	Members, September 2026	Where
Complete Care Plan (ACC): children and adults	339,950	All 15 Arizona counties
Complete Care Plan for adults with a serious mental illness (ACC-RBHA)	15,946	The North and South service areas
Total	355,896

The next largest single line, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan, had 309,518 members that month. Mercy Care had 312,392 counting its plan for adults with a serious mental illness.

Who arranges Arizona Complete Health rides

MTM Health does, as of September 2026. AzCH’s Medicaid and Medicare prior authorization pages both say its transportation services are handled by MTM (formerly MTBA). Its provider manual, last updated September 1, 2026, covers NEMT through the plan’s contracted broker and vendor and routes every NEMT claim through it.

Date	What changed
October 1, 2018	AzCH’s AHCCCS Complete Care contract term begins
October 1, 2021	MTBA becomes AzCH’s exclusive NEMT vendor, replacing Veyo, and every NEMT claim starts going through the vendor
July 1, 2023	MTM Health closes its purchase of MTBA
October 1, 2024	Care1st’s ACC and RBHA members in Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Yavapai counties become AzCH members
September 30, 2027	The contract’s current option period ends
September 30, 2028	End of the one-year extension that state law (SB 1741, 2025) requires AHCCCS to issue to every ACC and ACC-RBHA plan

Under its AHCCCS contract, a new transportation vendor counts as a material change to business operations, which AzCH must request from AHCCCS under ACOM Policy 439. The 2021 switch was announced to providers on August 31, 2021, a month before it took effect.

Where AzCH members live

AzCH is the only ACC plan that serves all 15 Arizona counties. The AHCCCS plan list revised June 30, 2026 shows:

Service area	Counties	AzCH programs there
Central	Maricopa, Gila, and Pinal except ZIP codes 85542, 85192, and 85550	Complete Care
North	Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, Yavapai	Complete Care, plus the RBHA plan for adults with a serious mental illness
South	Cochise, Graham, Greenlee, La Paz, Pima, Santa Cruz, Yuma, and Pinal ZIP codes 85542, 85192, and 85550	Complete Care, plus the RBHA plan

In the five northern counties, AzCH and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona Health Choice are the only two ACC plans. The Arizona guide shows how each of the other plans buys rides.

How to become an Arizona Complete Health transportation provider

You need AHCCCS registration and an MTM Health contract. AzCH’s manual also says any subcontracted transportation provider must be credentialed with both the plan and the broker, so plan on AzCH’s credentialing too. Work through the steps in this order.

1. Register with AHCCCS. Every NEMT company registers as provider type 28. The type 28 profile, revised September 2026, rates the type high risk, with an enrollment fee ($750 in calendar 2026), a site visit, and a fingerprint-based background check. You upload vehicle insurance and registrations, an ADOT Vehicle for Hire permit, the signed type 28 profile, and the owner’s certificate from AHCCCS course HCNEMT2026, and you enter each driver’s details in the portal. Your company logo must be on every vehicle. AHCCCS generally processes applications within 60 days.
2. Apply to MTM Health. MTM’s steps are an application, an interview, contracting, credentialing, training, and a first trip. If it has no need in your area, it keeps your information on file. See MTM Health for what its application asks.
3. Send AzCH a Potential Provider Request. The online form asks for your product line (the Complete Care Plan for Medicaid, Ambetter, or Allwell Medicare), provider type “Non-Emergency Transportation Providers”, tax ID, group NPI, AHCCCS number, and the counties you serve. It marks the group NPI as required, although AHCCCS does not require one for type 28, so get a Type 2 NPI first. AzCH’s Potential Provider Committee must approve the request before credentialing starts.
4. Complete the AzAHP credentialing application. Arizona’s health plans share one Organizational/Facility Application, effective March 1, 2026. Check the box for air and non-emergency transportation, and file one application per location. Attach your business license, insurance policies, a W-9, a vehicle maintenance schedule, and proof of age-appropriate car seats. AzCH decides within 60 calendar days of a complete application.
5. Wait for the written effective date. New organizational providers get a written effective date, and you cannot serve AzCH members before it or before your AHCCCS registration is complete.
6. Recredential every 36 months. AzCH notifies you 180 days before your credentials expire. A company that misses the deadline starts over with initial credentialing. See NEMT recredentialing.

Before step 3, ask MTM’s network representative whether MTM sends your file to AzCH or wants you to file the Potential Provider Request yourself, so the paperwork is done once. AzCH’s manual lets it delegate credentialing work while keeping the final say on who joins. Credentialing with AzCH does not carry over to other plans: AzCH’s credentialing FAQ says each AHCCCS plan makes its own decision. The credentialing checklist and a vehicle maintenance log cover most of the attachments.

Insurance the credentialing application lists

The AzAHP application’s AHCCCS insurance checklist applies when you join a plan’s Medicaid line:

Coverage	Minimum
Business auto liability, owned, hired, and non-owned vehicles	$1,000,000 combined single limit
Commercial general liability	$1,000,000 each occurrence, $2,000,000 general aggregate, $1,000,000 products and completed operations, $1,000,000 personal and advertising injury, $50,000 damage to rented premises
Workers’ compensation and employer’s liability	$1,000,000 each accident, $1,000,000 disease per employee, $1,000,000 disease policy limit
Sexual abuse and molestation	Required when you serve children or vulnerable adults, sub-limit of at least $500,000
Professional liability, if it applies	$1,000,000 each claim, $2,000,000 aggregate

The auto and general liability policies must name the State of Arizona and its agencies and employees as additional insureds. Those two policies and workers’ compensation each need a waiver of subrogation in the state’s favor, and blanket endorsements are not accepted. See NEMT insurance requirements.

Crisis and behavioral health transport

AzCH’s manual sets separate rules for crisis transportation providers, which work under their own contract with the plan. They coordinate every trip through the plan’s crisis line provider, keep ADHS and AHCCCS qualified staff with fingerprint clearance cards, give every driver on duty a cell phone, and still bill through the contracted broker. Integrated health homes that run their own vans may contract with the broker to carry their members. See behavioral health transportation.

How AzCH trips are booked and what the plan expects

Members book by calling AzCH Member Services at 1-888-788-4408 (TTY 711) and choosing the transportation option. The 2026 member handbook AzCH posts, the edition for adults with a serious mental illness revised January 1, 2026, asks for at least three days’ notice, or three working days for a wheelchair or stretcher ride. Members can call on weekends and holidays for rides to urgent care, and cancel through the same number. A member with a behavioral health home gets help scheduling from that home first.

The caller gives the member’s mobility needs: wheelchair or stretcher, oxygen, IVs, a companion, an extra-wide or electric wheelchair, or a high-top vehicle. Children under 5 need a car seat, and children 5 through 7 who are shorter than 4 feet 9 inches need a booster seat. The handbook tells families to bring the car seat.

AHCCCS Policy 310-BB, with changes effective October 1, 2026, adds rules for AzCH trips:

• Short-notice trips. A plan may ask for no more than three calendar days’ notice, and must try to fill shorter-notice requests. Dialysis, chemotherapy and radiation, hospital and emergency room discharges, urgent visits, prenatal care, transplants, sleep studies, and appointments booked within three days are exceptions.
• Pharmacy trips. In Maricopa and Pima counties, a pharmacy trip is covered only within 15 miles one way of the pickup, unless the plan authorizes a compounding or specialty pharmacy.
• Minors. A 16 or 17 year old may ride alone only if the plan allows it, the guardian’s signed release (Attachment A) is on file, and the driver holds a Level I fingerprint clearance card and walks the member inside.

On-time rules

AzCH’s manual and its AHCCCS contract (Amendment 14, effective October 1, 2026) set these standards:

Standard	Rule
Drop-off	On time, and no more than one hour before the appointment
Ride home	Within one hour after treatment ends or after the will-call request
Early pickup	Never before treatment is complete
Quarterly target	95 percent of completed pickups and drop-offs on time
Dialysis, radiation, and chemotherapy	Reliable rides that arrive on time and pick up when the whole treatment ends
Oversight	AzCH audits its transportation vendors and requires corrective action when standards are missed

The manual lists the reports AzCH collects from its transportation broker each month, including call statistics, complaints, and a detail trip report, plus a quarterly on-time report.

Trip records and pay

Your MTM agreement sets your rates. AzCH’s manual says companies with direct contracts with the broker bill the number of trips and loaded miles as those agreements outline. A loaded mile is a statute mile driven with the member on board.

The manual also tells transportation providers to follow Chapter 14 of the AHCCCS fee-for-service billing manual:

• One claim per member per day. All of a member’s trips that day go on one claim: the number of trips on line 1 and the total miles on line 2.
• Daily Trip Report. The manual says a Daily Trip Report goes with the claim.
• Addresses. Put the full pickup and drop-off addresses in box 32, or in loops 2310E and 2310F on an electronic claim. Where there is no street address, describe the spot, such as a crossroads or a mile marker. Claims without them are denied.
• Trip tickets. The manual adds that an electronic claim with those loops filled in needs no separate trip ticket, and every paper claim needs one.

Every trip record needs the fields in section 11.2.4 of the manual: your company name and address, the driver’s signature and credentials, the vehicle, the member’s AHCCCS ID, the full date, both addresses, odometer readings at pickup and drop-off, one way or round trip, any escort’s name and relationship, and the member’s or guardian’s signature. If a member refuses to sign, the driver notes the refusal. Missing records put the payment at risk of recoupment. A trip log that captures these fields keeps you covered.

For a benchmark when you negotiate with MTM, here is what AHCCCS pays for fee-for-service rides from October 1, 2026. Trips that start outside the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas are rural and billed with the TN modifier.

Service	Code	Phoenix and Tucson	Rural (TN)
Ambulatory van or minibus trip	A0120	$6.64	$7.27
Ambulatory mileage, per mile	S0215	$1.28	$1.63
Wheelchair van trip	A0130	$11.15	$12.21
Wheelchair van mileage, per mile	S0209	$1.54	$1.66
Stretcher van trip	T2005	$49.09	$86.70
Stretcher van mileage, per mile	T2049	$1.54	$1.66
Wait time, per half hour	T2007	$4.59	$4.59

For long rural days, see rural NEMT. For how plan and broker contracts differ, see how to contract with Medicaid health plans.

Who to call

For	Contact
New contract requests and credentialing forms from new providers	AzCHPotentialProvider@azcompletehealth.com
Credentialing forms from providers already in the network	AzCHProviderData@azcompletehealth.com, fax (866) 687-0514
Your AzCH Provider Engagement Account Manager	AzCHProviderEngagement@azcompletehealth.com
AzCH provider customer service	1-866-796-0542
Member ride booking and cancellations	AzCH Member Services, 1-888-788-4408 (TTY 711), transportation option
Behavioral health crisis line	1-844-534-4673
Joining MTM Health’s network	The online application on MTM’s service providers page. Companies already in the network call their Vendor Account Manager.
MTM Health headquarters	16 Hawk Ridge Drive, Lake St. Louis, MO 63367. 636-561-5686
AHCCCS registration	The AHCCCS Provider Enrollment Portal (APEP). AHCCCS main line 602-417-4000

Before you apply, have your AHCCCS provider ID, Type 2 NPI, W-9, insurance certificates with the state endorsements, vehicle list with maintenance schedules, and the counties you will serve ready. Decide whether you will run ambulatory, wheelchair, or stretcher trips, and whether you can cover the northern and rural southern counties, where AzCH is one of only two or three ACC plans.