MTM Health in Illinois: Blue Cross, Meridian, Molina, and Dual Plan Rides (2027)

MTM Health, short for Medical Transportation Management, is based in Lake St. Louis, Missouri. It has coordinated Meridian’s Illinois Medicaid rides since November 1, 2010. On October 1, 2026 it also takes over Blue Cross Community Health Plans from Modivcare, and from that day MTM books the rides for most people in HealthChoice Illinois. The IMPACT enrollment, vehicle plates, and fee-for-service rates every Illinois company deals with are in the Illinois guide, and MTM’s other states are in our MTM Health guide.

Which Illinois plans MTM books rides for

HFS’s subcontractor list for October 2026 names MTM for four HealthChoice Illinois plans, and its FIDE SNP list of June 2026 names MTM for all four dual plans:

Plan	Program	Members, August 2026	Member ride line
Blue Cross Community Health Plans	HealthChoice, from October 1, 2026	682,745	877-831-3148
Meridian	HealthChoice	596,061	866-796-1165
Molina Healthcare of Illinois	HealthChoice	257,510	844-644-6354
YouthCare	HealthChoice, for youth in DCFS care and former youth in care	34,443	Member Services, 844-289-2264
Humana Dual Fully Integrated	Dual eligible	26,261	855-253-6867
Aetna Medicare FIDE	Dual eligible	26,033	1-855-814-1699
Molina Medicare Complete Care Plus	Dual eligible	14,235	844-644-6353
Wellcare Meridian Dual Align	Dual eligible	14,180	Member Services, 844-536-2180

The four HealthChoice plans held 1,570,759 of the program’s 2,253,817 members in August 2026, about 70 percent. The other two plans, Aetna Better Health of Illinois and CountyCare, stay with Modivcare. See Modivcare in Illinois.

The four dual plans are fully integrated dual eligible special needs plans (FIDE SNPs) for people with both Medicare and Medicaid. They replaced Illinois’s Medicare-Medicaid Alignment Initiative on January 1, 2026, all four serve every county, and they had 80,709 members in August 2026. See dual eligible. MTM has also booked HealthSpring Medicare Advantage rides since March 1, 2026, when HealthSpring left Modivcare.

Humana’s Medicaid plan starts in 2027

Humana Benefit Plan of Illinois won a HealthChoice Illinois contract on June 8, 2026, and HFS’s methodology of August 2026 counts it as new on January 1, 2027. Its dual plan already uses MTM. The October 2026 HealthChoice list has no Humana row, though, so its Medicaid ride vendor is not named yet. Check the list again in December.

Where MTM’s Illinois riders are

Outside Cook County, MTM plans held 977,656 of 1,191,222 plan members in August 2026, about 82 percent. In Cook it is 593,103 of 1,062,595, about 56 percent, because CountyCare stays with Modivcare. HFS’s enrollment report dated September 2, 2026 gives the biggest counties outside Cook:

County	MTM plans’ members	Share of the county’s plan members	Largest MTM plan there
DuPage	92,025	90 percent	Blue Cross
Lake	83,966	87 percent	Meridian
Will	79,566	86 percent	Blue Cross
Kane	72,340	90 percent	Blue Cross
Winnebago	52,743	77 percent	Meridian
St. Clair	43,173	87 percent	Meridian
Madison	36,023	86 percent	Meridian
Peoria	32,517	81 percent	Molina
McHenry	32,369	91 percent	Blue Cross
Sangamon	28,685	80 percent	Meridian
Champaign	28,405	85 percent	Molina

MTM’s share tops 90 percent in Stephenson, McHenry, DeKalb, and Kendall counties. Outside Cook it is lowest, about 6 in 10, in small counties where Aetna is the largest plan, such as Pope, Warren, and Crawford.

Molina is the largest plan in 12 counties, most of them in central Illinois: Champaign (41 percent of plan members), Vermilion (42 percent), McLean (35 percent), Peoria (32 percent), and Knox (36 percent), plus Bond, Clinton, De Witt, Ford, Fulton, Jersey, and Piatt. Around Champaign, Bloomington, Danville, and Peoria, more plan members belong to Molina than to any other plan, so Molina’s rules below are the ones a company there works under most.

Molina rides and claims through MTM

The Illinois health plans’ transportation toolkit, updated May 31, 2024, gives Molina’s HealthChoice members these rules:

• Notice. Trips are booked 48 hours ahead, at 844-644-6354.
• Extra destinations. Pharmacy trips, Molina community events, and rides for parents whose infants are still in the hospital’s NICU.
• Gas money. Members may get gas reimbursement through MTM’s mileage program instead of a ride. See mileage reimbursement.

The Illinois plans’ Comprehensive Billing Manual, version 36.0 of June 29, 2026, sets how Molina trips are billed, and its Molina instructions send claims to MTM:

1. Use MTM’s online claims portal. Molina transportation companies get access to submit claims, check status, appeal denials, and see check details. MTM trains companies that are new to it.
2. Send the medical form in 5 business days. A PCS (HFS 2270) or CTS (HFS 2271) must be submitted within 5 business days of the electronic claim file. When a hospital or nursing home books the ride, it completes the PCS and gives you a copy to send with the claim.
3. Start the claim note with “TR,”. Every plan claim carries the state, the plate number, and the departure and arrival times in military time. For Molina the note reads like TR, NTE*ADD*IL,12345678,1155,1220.
4. Report loaded miles in Loop 2400, segment CR106, of the 837P. When riders share a van, only the first member picked up gets mileage, even if the riders belong to different plans.
5. Mail paper claims only if you must to MTM, Attention: Claims Department, 16 Hawk Ridge Dr., Lake St. Louis, MO 63367.

See how to submit NEMT claims electronically and loaded miles.

Trips for the four dual plans

Aetna’s 2026 member handbook for Aetna Medicare FIDE sets these rules:

Rule	Aetna Medicare FIDE, 2026
Ride line	MTM Health, 1-855-814-1699 (TTY 711), weekdays 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time
Booking	At least two business days before the pickup
Changes	Up to one business day before the pickup
How members ride	A taxi, a transport van, or a rideshare, chosen by MTM
Counting	Each direction is a separate one-way trip
Help at the door	Drivers are not responsible for helping from the home door to the vehicle, or from the vehicle to the destination door. An escort may come along.
Ambulance	Non-emergency ground ambulance is not a plan benefit. Ambulance companies bill HFS.

That makes Aetna’s dual trips curb-to-curb unless your MTM contract says more. HFS’s June 2026 list gives a different number for the same plan, 888-513-1612, so ask MTM which line to give riders and clinics.

For Humana, the plans’ toolkit of May 2024 listed the rules of its plan at the time on the same reservation line, 855-253-6867. Members booked at least 2 business days ahead, or 5 days or more for a wheelchair lift or stretcher vehicle, and up to 30 days out. MTM called the night before to confirm, and it kept a one-hour pickup window before or after the set time. Ask your Vendor Account Manager whether those rules still apply to Humana Dual Fully Integrated.

Blue Cross, Meridian, and YouthCare trips

Blue Cross Community Health Plans is the largest HealthChoice plan, and October 1, 2026 is its first day with MTM. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois said on August 26, 2026 that MTM carries out recurring trips and trips already booked for after that date, and that members keep calling 877-831-3148. The plans’ billing manual of June 29, 2026 still lists Modivcare as the Blue Cross ride vendor, with a Blue Cross PCS fax of 877-272-3629, which is also the fax on Modivcare’s Illinois trip forms. Ask MTM where Blue Cross medical forms go now. The plan’s wait, return, and distance rules are on the Blue Cross Community Health Plans transportation page.

Meridian has used MTM since November 1, 2010, and YouthCare, which Meridian runs, uses it too. Their booking hours, gas money, and stretcher rules are on the Meridian Illinois transportation page.

How to join MTM in Illinois

The HFS transportation handbook of March 11, 2024 makes plan providers enroll in IMPACT just as fee-for-service providers do, with a fingerprint-based background check and possible on-site visits by the HFS Office of Inspector General. Your vans also need Secretary of State medical carrier or livery plates, as the Illinois guide explains.

1. Enroll in IMPACT and plate your vehicles. In Chicago, medical carrier vehicles also need the city’s medicar vehicle license. See NEMT in Chicago.
2. Apply on MTM’s Join Our Network page. The MTM Health guide walks through its onboarding steps, and broker credentialing covers the paperwork.
3. Name your counties and plans. Use the county table above, and ask whether your contract covers Molina and the dual plans as well as Blue Cross and Meridian.
4. Hand clinics the Illinois forms. MTM’s healthcare providers page posts Illinois-only copies of the CTS and PCS, updated June 5, 2024. A licensed medical professional completes the CTS for home pickups, and the form says transportation companies may not fill it out.

MTM sets each company’s rates in its contract. HFS’s fee-for-service rates in the Illinois guide are a fair starting point for that talk, and negotiating broker rates covers how to ask. See also contracting with Medicaid health plans.

Who to call

For	Contact
Blue Cross Community Health Plans rides, from October 1, 2026	877-831-3148
Meridian rides	866-796-1165
Molina rides	844-644-6354
YouthCare rides	Member Services, 844-289-2264
Aetna Medicare FIDE rides	1-855-814-1699
Humana Dual Fully Integrated rides	855-253-6867
Molina Medicare Complete Care Plus rides	844-644-6353
Molina paper claims	MTM, Attention: Claims Department, 16 Hawk Ridge Dr., Lake St. Louis, MO 63367
MTM headquarters	636-561-5686
Non-emergency ambulance approval, providers	Transdev, 866-503-9040. See Transdev Health Solutions.
Joining the network	The Join Our Network page at mtm-inc.net

What to do first

1. Apply now if you drove Blue Cross riders for Modivcare, because those trips come only through MTM from October 1, 2026.
2. Find your county in the table to see how much of your area’s plan work MTM controls.
3. Ask for Molina and the dual plans in your contract if you work central Illinois or serve riders with both Medicare and Medicaid.
4. Set up the claims portal and a routine for sending each Molina PCS or CTS within 5 business days.
5. Give nearby clinics and dialysis units MTM’s Illinois CTS and PCS forms.