Contra Costa Health Plan Transportation in 2027: County NEMT Contracts and How to Join

Contra Costa Health Plan (CCHP) is the Medi-Cal plan that Contra Costa County runs itself. It is a county-sponsored HMO and a division of the county’s Health Services Department, and the five-member Board of Supervisors serves as its board of directors. CCHP books its members’ rides through its own phone line and buys wheelchair van, gurney, and ambulance rides from transportation companies. Each company signs its own contract with the county, so winning one of those contracts is how you get CCHP trips.

CCHP has held a Medi-Cal contract with the state since 1984, and it began enrolling members as the county’s Local Initiative on February 1, 1997. Since January 1, 2024, Contra Costa has been a Single Plan county: CCHP is its Medi-Cal plan, and Kaiser Permanente is an added choice for some members. DHCS’s managed care enrollment report for August 2026 counted 240,236 Medi-Cal members in CCHP and 62,013 in Kaiser in the county. A CCHP contract covers only CCHP members; Kaiser’s ride benefit is covered in Kaiser Permanente Medi-Cal transportation.

Medi-Cal’s statewide rules, from Title 22 vehicle standards to fee-for-service rates, are on the California guide.

Who gets rides and how members book them

CCHP covers rides for its Medi-Cal members and for members of Care Plus, its plan for people with both Medicare and Medi-Cal (an HMO D-SNP), which it began operating in 2026. Its commercial members, such as county employees, have no ride benefit, under the provider manual revised January 30, 2026.

Members, or their doctors’ offices, call the CCHP Transportation Line at 1-855-222-1218 (TTY 711), which the manual lists as open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The member page, as it read on January 19, 2026, splits rides into two kinds with different booking times:

Ride type	Vehicles	Book at least
NEMT	Ambulance, wheelchair van, litter van or gurney, air	7 to 10 business days ahead
NMT	Bus, paratransit, car, taxi	5 to 7 business days ahead

Urgent appointments are booked as soon as possible, and members are asked to cancel at least one business day ahead when they can. A health care provider must order every NEMT ride. CCHP authorizes the lowest cost ride that meets the member’s needs, to the closest provider with an open appointment, and gives no ride to a service Medi-Cal does not cover. NEMT vs NMT explains the split between the two ride types.

For car rides, the manual lists public transit, paratransit, a paid driver such as a taxi or rideshare, and transportation broker dispatch. It does not pay members to drive themselves. CCHP may deny a car ride to a provider outside the county when the service is available locally, and CCHP’s PCS form asks the doctor why a ride outside Contra Costa County to a more distant facility is needed.

When a pickup runs late, the member page tells members to call the transportation company first, then CCHP, and says they may file a grievance. That puts your dispatcher on the first call about a late van. A rider under 18 without a parent needs a signed Unaccompanied Minor Consent Form on file with CCHP, unless the minor is emancipated or going to sensitive services; see children in NEMT.

How CCHP buys NEMT: county contracts

Health Services sends its NEMT contracts to the Board of Supervisors as consent items, each with a payment ceiling and a term, paid 100% from the Contra Costa Health Plan Enterprise Fund II. A small contract can skip the Board: in September 2022 the County Administrator approved, and the Purchasing Services Manager signed, a $60,000 contract for medical and non-medical rides. Staff reports from October 2023 and April 2024 counted 17 NEMT providers in CCHP’s service area, 14 of them under contract with CCHP.

NEMT contracts in force in October 2026

The Board approved these eleven NEMT contracts, from $300,000 to $7,500,000 each, and every term covers October 6, 2026. The amount is the most the county may pay over the whole term, not a promise of trips.

Board approval	Up to	Term
October 17, 2023	$600,000	November 1, 2023 to October 31, 2026
April 9, 2024	$525,000	April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2027
November 12, 2024	$500,000	December 1, 2024 to November 30, 2026
December 3, 2024	$2,400,000	December 1, 2024 to November 30, 2027
March 11, 2025	$1,350,000	February 1, 2025 to January 31, 2028
June 10, 2025	$795,000	May 1, 2025 to April 30, 2028
September 9, 2025 (item C.112)	$7,500,000	August 1, 2025 to July 31, 2027
September 9, 2025 (item C.113)	$5,000,000	August 1, 2025 to July 31, 2027
March 3, 2026 (item C.46)	$600,000	September 1, 2025 to August 31, 2028
July 7, 2026, NEMT and NMT	$900,000	June 1, 2026 to May 31, 2029
July 7, 2026	$300,000	July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2028

Together they allow up to $20,470,000. The Board’s October 6, 2026 consent agenda carried one more, item C.85: a contract of up to $2,000,000 with a company that begins CCHP NEMT trips on October 1, 2026, running through September 30, 2028. To follow new contracts and renewals on the Board calendar, see how to find out who won a government ride contract.

Car and taxi rides run on other contracts

Taxi companies hold separate non-medical contracts. On December 9, 2025 the Board approved one of up to $800,000 for October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026, and item C.47 on its October 6, 2026 agenda is the next one, up to $900,000 through September 30, 2027. Since 2019 the county has also paid for a web-based ride-hailing booking system that county staff use to arrange rides for Medi-Cal patients its social service case managers have flagged as high users of care. On August 25, 2026 the Board raised that contract’s ceiling by $10,000,000, to $30,000,000. DHCS’s focused audit of July 2022 to June 2023 found CCHP had delegated its NMT rides to the same company.

A car or taxi company answers CCHP-238, the non-medical solicitation open since September 1, 2025. It asks for licensed vehicles that meet the Vehicle Code, standby vehicles, inspection records, and the same three minimum qualifications as the NEMT solicitation below.

What the staff reports show

• Two and three year terms. A renewal is a new contract, so you re-sign every two or three years. CCHP’s manual says renewals start three to six months before a term ends.
• Late approvals. Nine of the eleven contracts reached the Board after their terms had begun, from 2 days to 6 months late. The reports blame long negotiation of contract terms, County Counsel review of contract language, and a solicitation the division finished late. One taxi contract was late because the county did not get the company’s required forms in time, so return yours quickly.
• Rates change by contract. Each contract’s rates sit on its compensation page. In October 2023 the county cancelled and rewrote one contract to raise rates, saying it needed higher rates to keep an adequate network. An amendment approved February 28, 2023 added a bariatric transport rate to one contract’s compensation page, and one approved September 16, 2025 added bariatric transport to another; see bariatric transportation.
• New companies get in. Companies new to the network started on August 1 and December 1, 2024, and the contract on the October 6, 2026 agenda is for a company that begins CCHP NEMT trips on October 1, 2026.

How to become a CCHP transportation provider

CCHP recruits NEMT companies through CCHP-233, a continuous solicitation on Contra Costa Health’s Ongoing Contracting Opportunities page, open since May 1, 2025 with no closing date. CCHP takes proposals on a rolling basis and reviews them for licensing and certification and for fit with its mission to serve Contra Costa County. Staff reports from 2025 and 2026 say the department keeps a continuous Request for Qualifications and a current list of qualified vendors under the county’s Administrative Bulletins 600.3 and 600.4. Several contracts approved in 2024 and 2025 were instead exempted from solicitation by the Purchasing Division of the county’s Public Works Department.

1. Enroll in Medi-Cal. An active DHCS Medi-Cal enrollment is the first minimum qualification in CCHP-233, and the manual says DHCS requires every contracted provider to be enrolled. Apply in the DHCS PAVE portal; enrolling through DHCS also lets you serve fee-for-service members. See how to become a Medicaid transportation provider.
2. Register the business. CCHP-233 also requires California Secretary of State registration and a current certificate of liability insurance. The county’s Purchasing Services page says a county business license is required to do business in the unincorporated area, and vendor registration with the county is free.
3. Answer the solicitation. Open CCHP-233 on the Ongoing Contracting Opportunities page and fill out the Contact Us form the page links to. Email a letter of interest to CCHPcontracts@cchealth.org as well, with your levels of service, vehicles, and hours.
4. Send the contract forms. The manual asks for an ownership and control disclosure under 42 CFR 455.104 (an unincorporated sole proprietor is exempt), the County Registration and Certification form, a W-9 signed in the same year, and proof of Secretary of State registration. Contracts are signed electronically. The disclosure of ownership template helps with the first form.
5. Pass credentialing. Every provider must be approved by CCHP’s Peer Review and Credentialing Committee and have a signed contract before serving members. CCHP checks you against the Social Security death file, NPPES, the HHS OIG exclusion list, SAM, the Medicare exclusion database, and DHCS’s suspended and restricted provider lists. Credentialing generally repeats every three years.
6. Wait for the Board. Health Services takes your contract to the Board of Supervisors. Once you are active, Provider Relations must send your new provider orientation within 10 business days. Return its signed acknowledgment form within that time, or CCHP may mark you inactive until it arrives.

After you are in, keep documents current. If a license, certification, or liability certificate expires and you send no renewal within 30 days, CCHP may suspend or end your participation.

What CCHP-233 asks of you

The solicitation, as it read on October 6, 2026, lists these contractor obligations:

• Door-to-door assistance, including ambulatory curb-to-curb or door-to-door service.
• Licensed and certified vehicles that meet the California Vehicle Code and DMV rules for non-emergency vehicles, plus spare standby vehicles.
• Records of every vehicle safety inspection.
• Qualified, properly licensed drivers trained in the laws on transportation services and in safety practices.
• Certified staff training in fraud, waste, and abuse prevention, HIPAA, defensive driving, and first aid and CPR.

See door-to-door service for what that help covers.

Insurance

Contra Costa County’s standard long-form service contract (Form L-5 General Conditions, revised 2003, paragraph 19) asks for liability insurance that covers owned and non-owned vehicles. The combined single limit is at least $500,000 on contracts of $500,000 or less and $1,000,000 on larger ones. The county must be an additional insured, your policy must pay first, and you need workers’ compensation for employees. Certificates are due by the contract’s start date. A contract’s special conditions can set other limits, so ask Contract Management for your insurance terms before you buy a policy. See NEMT insurance requirements.

County permits

Contra Costa EMS says gurney, wheelchair van, and medical transportation services that give no medical treatment or care during the ride need neither its certificate of operation nor an emergency response vehicle permit. Ambulance companies that start trips in unincorporated areas, or in cities that adopted the county ambulance ordinance, need both, and the vehicle permit comes with an inspection decal that must be current. As its page read in June 2026, EMS decides a new application within 60 days of a complete application and fees, and renewals are due at least 60 days before expiration.

How trips are authorized and paid

The PCS form and authorizations

Most NEMT rides need a Physician Certification Statement (PCS) with the member’s limits, dates of service up to 12 months, the mode, and a certification of medical necessity. CCHP’s own form, revised April 7, 2026, goes in through ccLink, CCHP’s provider portal, or by fax to 925-313-6458. It says a physician must sign it for every Medi-Cal patient.

The manual allows a preliminary authorization without the PCS in three cases: an urgent request sent within 72 hours, a move from an acute hospital to another licensed inpatient facility, and a move from an emergency room to inpatient care. The completed PCS must still arrive within 30 days after the ride, or the claim may be denied. A discharge from an acute hospital to a licensed inpatient facility, such as a skilled nursing or psychiatric facility, must be arranged and finished within 3 hours of the request. If it is not, the hospital may book an out-of-network NEMT company, and CCHP pays for that ride. The Medi-Cal PCS form and hospital discharge transportation guides go deeper.

Claims

• Format. Bill on the CMS-1500, electronically, under payer ID CCHS, through CCHP’s clearinghouse or your own. Typed paper claims go to P.O. Box 5122, Lake Forest, CA 92609, only when electronic filing is not possible.
• Required fields. Put the CCHP authorization number in box 23 and your NPI in boxes 24J and 32a. Your NPI must be registered with Medi-Cal, and claims without it are rejected.
• Deadline. Send clean or corrected claims within 180 days of the service date or EOB. See timely filing limit.
• Payment. Since January 30, 2026, the manual says CCHP processes Medi-Cal claims within 30 calendar days, and late payments on non-emergency claims earn interest of at least 15% a year after that. Check status in the ccLink Provider Portal, and ask edisupport@cchealth.org to set up electronic payment.
• Disputes. Dispute a denial or underpayment within 365 days: in ccLink for five claims or fewer, by email to claimstatus@cchealth.org with a spreadsheet for more, or by mail to Contra Costa Health Plan, Attn: Claims Department, Provider Disputes, 595 Center Avenue, Suite 100, Martinez, CA 94553.
• Never bill the member. The manual bans balance billing Medi-Cal and Care Plus members, and its list names no-show fees. See billing for no-shows.

What DHCS audits found about CCHP rides

DHCS audits CCHP every year, and its transportation findings show what CCHP will check on your trips:

• Medi-Cal enrollment. The audit of May 2019 to April 2020, issued December 21, 2020, found 7 of 13 contracted NEMT companies were not enrolled in Medi-Cal. CCHP’s corrective plan added a check of each company against the state’s list of enrolled fee-for-service providers. DHCS’s annual audit of July 2022 to June 2023, issued February 6, 2024, reviewed the enrollment of 12 contracted NEMT providers and made no finding about it.
• Door-to-door help and no-shows. The focused audit of July 2022 to June 2023, issued August 30, 2024, found CCHP had no process to make sure NEMT riders got door-to-door help and did not monitor NEMT or NMT no-show rates. CCHP told auditors it could not see NEMT trip data because the broker it had delegated NEMT to ran the system. Its 13 NEMT provider contracts required neither door-to-door help nor timely scheduling, and in 4 of 10 sampled NMT rides the driver cancelled with no reason recorded. DHCS recommended quarterly monitoring of door-to-door help and NEMT no-shows.
• 2024 and 2025. The audits of August 2023 to July 2024 (issued February 14, 2025) and August 2024 to July 2025 (issued March 16, 2026) reviewed 15 and 20 NEMT claims and made no transportation finding. The 2024 report notes that CCHP’s quarterly grievance reports track transportation punctuality as a subtopic.

CCHP-233, opened in May 2025, now lists door-to-door assistance as a contractor obligation. Keep a record for every leg: pickup and drop-off times, the help you gave at each door, cancellations with their reasons, and no-shows. See NEMT trip documentation and no-show.

Who to call at CCHP

These contacts come from the provider manual revised January 30, 2026 and the member page as of January 19, 2026:

• Ride bookings and changes: 1-855-222-1218 (TTY 711).
• Contracts and letters of interest: CCHPcontracts@cchealth.org, or 1-877-800-7423, option 6.
• Credentialing: cchpcredentialing@cchealth.org, or 1-877-800-7423, option 6.
• Provider Relations: ProviderRelations@cchealth.org, or fax 925-608-9411.
• Authorizations and PCS forms: CCHPauthorizations@cchealth.org, or 1-877-800-7423, option 3. The PCS form’s fax is 925-313-6458.
• Claims status: claimstatus@cchealth.org, or 1-877-800-7423, option 5, weekdays 8 a.m. to noon.
• Electronic claims and payment setup: edisupport@cchealth.org.

Before you write to Contract Management, have your DHCS enrollment letter, NPI, Secretary of State filing, W-9, insurance certificate, and any business license you need ready. To compare how other California plans buy rides, see Central California Alliance for Health, Kern Family Health Care, how to contract with Medicaid health plans, and government NEMT contracts.