GOBHI NEMT in 2027: How to Become a Transportation Provider in Eastern Oregon

Greater Oregon Behavioral Health, Inc. (GOBHI) is based in The Dalles, Oregon. Besides behavioral health programs, it runs the non-emergent medical transportation (NEMT) benefit for most of eastern Oregon. The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) lists this program as GOBHI Transportation Services.

The Eastern Oregon Coordinated Care Organization (EOCCO) has delegated its NEMT benefit to GOBHI, and OHA contracts GOBHI for Oregon Health Plan (OHP) open card members. GOBHI takes ride requests, confirms eligibility, chooses the ride type, and assigns vehicle rides. Its rides come from volunteers, rural public transit, private nonprofit carriers, and for-profit transportation companies. GOBHI’s volunteer driver page says the program covered 6,067,865 miles in 2024.

Where GOBHI NEMT runs rides

Oregon has no single Medicaid broker. Each coordinated care organization (CCO) picks a ride service for its members, and OHA contracts regional brokerages for open card members, Oregon’s name for fee-for-service Medicaid. As of September 2026, OHA names GOBHI Transportation Services as the ride service for EOCCO and as the open card brokerage for most of the east side of the state.

Counties	EOCCO members	Open card members
Baker, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Wheeler	GOBHI	GOBHI
Lake	GOBHI	TransLink
Hood River, Wasco	Outside EOCCO’s area	GOBHI

Hood River and Wasco belong to PacificSource Community Solutions, whose members book rides with Modivcare. So in those two counties, GOBHI trips are open card trips only. OHA’s brokerage map, effective July 1, 2023, shows the same split.

One change is coming. OHA says all Healthier Oregon members move from CCOs to OHP Open Card in January 2027 because of federal changes (notice updated August 7, 2026). GOBHI’s own NEMT page says some members will move from EOCCO to open card on January 1, 2027. In 11 of EOCCO’s 12 counties, those members keep riding through GOBHI. In Lake County, open card rides go to TransLink instead.

Many trips here are long. The open card rule (OAR 410-136-3020) covers rides to care in California, Idaho, or Washington up to 75 miles past the Oregon border. The CCO rule (OAR 410-141-3930) covers care out of state that borders the plan’s area and sits within 75 miles of the border, and GOBHI’s rider guide lists a Walla Walla phone line. See rural NEMT for planning long days and empty miles, and the Oregon state guide for every other ride service in the state.

How GOBHI assigns trips and sets rates

GOBHI’s provider manual (revised July 2025) says its ride assignment is based mainly on rate. Each ride entered in its scheduling software is matched to the most appropriate and cost-effective company. The manual also lists the other factors: the service area and hours you told GOBHI you cover, your vehicle types, the level of service you offer, and your performance. Contracted companies get no guaranteed number of trips.

The open card rule sets the same kind of test for brokerages. Under OAR 410-136-3020 (amended effective January 1, 2025), a brokerage assigns rides by cost, the member’s equipment needs, each company’s capabilities, availability, and past performance, and its own need to keep enough capacity. It must also choose the least costly mode that meets the member’s medical needs, which can mean a shared ride, and check whether the member can drive or get a ride from family, friends, or neighbors. GOBHI’s ride options include transit passes and mileage reimbursement as well as vehicle rides.

Your base rate is what you negotiate. GOBHI’s rate process works like this:

Step	What GOBHI’s manual and form say
How often	No more than once every 90 days
Where to send it	The NEMT Rate Request and Approval Form, emailed to nemtrates@gobhi.org
Format	Base rate, a rate for the first set of miles, and a rate for additional miles. A flat rate request needs GOBHI’s flat rate spreadsheet with each route’s start, end, and estimated miles.
Add-ons you can ask for	Weekends, after hours, shared rides, and other differentials
What to include	A specific explanation with data, such as higher operating or supply costs. GOBHI says it will not approve an increase without one.
What GOBHI weighs	State Medicaid rate guidelines, average network rates, your explanation, geography, and industry changes
Answer	Within 30 days: approve, deny, ask for more detail, or offer a counter rate
Start date	GOBHI tells you the date, no more than 30 days after approval

For open card trips, OAR 410-136-3220 (effective January 1, 2024) adds limits on what a brokerage pays. A shared ride pays the full base rate for the first member and half the base rate for each added member. Its miles are paid only from the first pickup to the final destination, and only actual miles count. Waiting for a member to reach the vehicle, or helping a member in and out, is not paid.

How to become a GOBHI transportation provider

1. Pick your counties and ride types. List the counties, hours, and vehicle types you can cover. GOBHI assigns trips against what you say you serve.
2. Set up the company. Register your business, check whether you need an ODOT for-hire permit or a city permit (the Oregon state guide covers both), and buy insurance. See NEMT insurance requirements.
3. Carry workers’ compensation. OAR 410-136-3060 requires open card brokerages to make every subcontractor with employees carry it, unless an exemption in ORS 656.126(2) applies.
4. Get an NPI and ask about OHA enrollment. Oregon’s CCO rule OAR 410-141-3565 (effective January 1, 2025) requires providers to be enrolled with OHA before their encounter claims are accepted. Plans enroll transportation companies on form OHP 3108 (January 2025), which lists Transportation Provider as provider type 1 and asks for an NPI. See how to get an NPI number for NEMT.
5. Email GOBHI. Write to nemtcredentialing@gobhi.org to say you want to become a contracted provider.
6. Build a file for every driver and vehicle. GOBHI requires all drivers credentialed before any billable trip and keeps the records itself. The tables below list what it needs.
7. Road test each driver. GOBHI wants a vehicle orientation and a road test in the same type of vehicle and equipment the driver will use, before the driver carries members.
8. Keep it current. You track renewal dates and send new documents before they lapse. GOBHI warns you in advance about missing items and withholds payment only if they are not in by the date it gives.

Track the paperwork with the NEMT credentialing checklist. NEMT broker credentialing explains what reviewers look for.

Driver documents GOBHI keeps on file

Document	How often
Driver license from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, or California	Keep it valid and send the renewal before it expires
Criminal background check	Every year
Driving record	Every year
8-panel laboratory drug screen, full result or cover sheet with attestation	At first credentialing, when GOBHI asks
HIPAA, fraud waste and abuse, mandatory reporter, cultural competence, and bloodborne pathogens training	Every year
EOCCO rider guide attestation	Every year
CPR and first aid	Usually every two years
Defensive driving, a passenger service and safety course, fire extinguisher training, and a signed code of conduct	Before first credentialing

GOBHI also checks every driver against the federal OIG exclusion list each month. The state rules set floors that GOBHI’s list sits on top of:

Requirement	CCO trips (OAR 410-141-3925)	Open card trips (OAR 410-136-3040)
License	Valid, of the right class, with any endorsements	A valid Oregon DMV license of the right class
Background check	Before hire, under ORS 181A.195 and 181A.200	At hire or contracting, under ORS 181A.195
First aid, CPR, and blood spill	Before driving any member	Within 6 months of hire
Defensive driving and PASS or equivalents	Within 3 months of hire, then every 3 years	Within 6 months of hire, then every 3 years

GOBHI wants defensive driving and the passenger course done before first credentialing, which is sooner than either rule. The license rules differ too. If a driver holds a Washington, Idaho, or California license, ask GOBHI which trips that driver can take.

Vehicle documents and equipment

Item	What GOBHI asks for
Registration and insurance	Current, with no lapse
Inspection	Every year, with a safety inspection certificate from an ASE-certified mechanic dated within the last year
Wheelchair vehicles	A certificate of ADA compliance dated within the last year
In the vehicle	An insurance card or ACORD certificate, and incident report forms
Safety equipment	The state list in OAR 410-141-3925 (seat belts, first aid kit, fire extinguisher, warning devices, flashlight, traction devices when needed, gloves, and wheelchair and stretcher securement), plus a seat belt extender, bloodborne pathogens spill kit, spare tire or repair kit, jack, seat belt cutter, non-latex gloves, and seasonal gear
Communication	A hands-free phone or tablet, under the 2026 rider guide
After a crash	An ASE-certified mechanic checks the vehicle before it returns to service

GOBHI strongly recommends dash cameras facing both inside and out, and may ask for footage when it investigates a complaint. See NEMT dash cameras. Licensed ambulances follow Oregon’s ambulance rules instead of these vehicle and driver lists.

Trip rules GOBHI expects drivers to follow

These rules come from GOBHI’s July 2025 manual and the EOCCO rider guide revised January 1, 2026.

Situation	Rule
Pickup window	30 minutes: from 15 minutes before to 15 minutes after the scheduled time. A driver who arrives after the scheduled time counts as late.
Early arrival	Allowed, but the member does not have to leave before the window
Waiting for the member	Make your presence known and wait at least 15 minutes after the scheduled pickup. Call dispatch before you leave.
Stops with wait time	A pharmacy or clinic stop is capped at 15 minutes. Past that, GOBHI either approves more time or confirms a no-show.
Drop-off	At least 15 minutes before the appointment, never more than 1 hour early, and never more than 15 minutes before the facility opens unless the member asks
Will-call returns	Pickup within the hour after the member calls
Return near closing	Aim to pick up within 15 minutes of the facility closing
Changes	No change to pickup time, appointment time, addresses, or vehicle type without GOBHI’s approval
Help at the door	If asked, help up or down 1 or 2 steps and into the lobby. Drivers do not enter homes or rooms, dress members, or transfer them between bed, wheelchair, and van.
Children	A child 12 or under rides with an adult attendant. The attendant brings and installs the car seat for every leg.
Oversized chairs	Members report a wheelchair over 30 inches wide, 48 inches long, or 600 pounds with the rider
Payments	No fares or tips, and no charge for an attendant

When a driver runs more than 15 minutes late, GOBHI arranges another driver, company, or public transit. If GOBHI hands you a same-day trip that is already late because of an assignment problem, you keep the original pickup time but are not penalized for the late pickup.

Accepting and handing back trips

Accept or reject each assignment promptly. If you cannot run a ride you accepted, tell GOBHI at least 72 hours ahead so it can reassign it. A ride you accept within 72 hours of the trip must be completed.

Acceptable reasons to hand back a trip include a pickup outside your service area or hours, a vehicle type you do not run, a van down for maintenance, driver schedules, bad weather, a safety risk, a pending or past lawsuit by the member against your company, and cultural or religious holidays. GOBHI does not accept “cherry-picking” only the highest-paying trips, a pattern of last-minute returns, or dropping a critical same-day trip you agreed to take. A pattern can lead to a corrective action plan with fewer trips offered or a smaller service area.

How GOBHI pays transportation providers

Every trip you bill must be complete in GOBHI’s trip system: vehicle, driver, arrival times, and departure times. Once those are in, the trip status moves from “Authorized” to “Data Entered,” and you can add it to an invoice.

Step	When, under the July 2025 manual
Rate disputes	Due by noon on the first and third Thursday of each month
Invoicing	Completed by the end of the first and third Friday
Direct deposit	Sent on the second and fourth Monday, arriving on the second and fourth Wednesday
Paper checks	Mailed on the second and fourth Wednesday
Final deadline	Every claim settled within 120 days of the trip

Send billing questions to billingissues@gobhi.org. GOBHI does not pay for deadhead, meaning miles, wait time, or a return trip with no member on board. Bill only the part of a trip with the member present, on the most cost-effective and reasonably direct route. If a brokerage error caused an empty trip, ask the NEMT operations manager to review it.

Audits are routine. GOBHI checks a sample of each company’s trips for claims data, pickup and drop-off times, the right level of transport, and member satisfaction, and its compliance department can audit trip logs, mileage, and signatures. It does not hold payment during an audit, but it recovers any overpayment, for example by deducting it from a later invoice. Keep trip records for at least 10 years. The manual lists the minimum fields, from scheduled and actual pickup times to trip mileage and the vehicle’s license plate. The NEMT trip documentation guide covers the rest.

Stretcher, oxygen, ventilator, and secure trips

When a hospital needs a stretcher, oxygen, or ventilator trip and no company in GOBHI’s network can take it, GOBHI uses the 405T process. It sends form OHP 405T to the hospital caseworker, who finds an outside company that can take the trip and returns the form to 405t@gobhi.org. If GOBHI approves it, the form goes to OHA’s Provider Services Unit with a copy to the transportation company. The form pays at the OHP fee schedule unless GOBHI documents special circumstances for a higher bid, and it asks for the company’s provider number. See stretcher van for how those trips differ.

Secure transport, for members in danger of harming themselves or others, goes only to companies approved under OAR 309-033-0200 to 309-033-0970. EOCCO also allows it for members who are not on a hold. Those trips need the member’s informed consent and a written statement from the treating medical professional, supplied to GOBHI before it authorizes the ride.

Incidents, complaints, and suspensions

Event	Deadline under the July 2025 manual
Any accident or incident on a member trip	Report to GOBHI within 24 hours, with date, time, place, vehicle, driver, what happened, and any injuries or hospital care
Injury, death, or an abuse allegation against a driver	Written notice to GOBHI immediately
Medical emergency on arrival	Call 911, tell GOBHI dispatch at once, and send a written report within 24 hours
Suspected breach of member information	Report within 24 hours
Your response to a member grievance	3 business days, or 1 business day for serious cases

GOBHI can suspend or end a contract for chronic lateness, including arriving more than 30 minutes after a return request or a scheduled return time. Other grounds include unapproved trip changes, unsafe vehicles, knowingly employing a driver with a felony conviction or a sex-related misdemeanor, and any gap in insurance. It can suspend a driver at once for a suspended license, lapsed credentials, or an investigation into misconduct. You can appeal a driver suspension or disqualification in writing.

Who to call at GOBHI

For	Contact
Joining the network and credentialing	nemtcredentialing@gobhi.org
Rate requests	nemtrates@gobhi.org
Trip support	tripsupport@gobhi.org
Billing	billingissues@gobhi.org
405T trips	405t@gobhi.org
Brokerage, toll-free	877-875-4657, TTY 711. Fax 855-541-1517
Brokerage hours	Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific
Main office	412 Washington Street, The Dalles, OR 97058. 541-298-2101 or 800-493-0040
Fraud, waste, and abuse	844-773-7237

GOBHI also lists local brokerage lines, from its July 2025 manual:

Town	Phone	Town	Phone
Baker City	541-249-5230	La Grande	541-624-3082
Bend	541-948-8352	Ontario	541-216-4556
Burns	541-288-9163	Pendleton	541-304-3208
Enterprise	541-263-7636	The Dalles	541-298-1045
Hermiston	541-303-8103	Umatilla	541-275-8207
Hood River	541-716-4460	Union	541-562-7888
John Day	541-620-5075

The 2026 rider guide says the call center may close on New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day. For 2026, that means Thanksgiving on November 26 and Christmas on December 25, so plan driver coverage for those days with GOBHI ahead of time.