MTM Health in Minnesota: The Metro and Northeast Ride Coordinator (2027)

In Minnesota, MTM Health is a county coordinator, not a statewide broker. Counties and tribes arrange most fee-for-service Medical Assistance rides in their area, and two groups of counties hire MTM, under the program name MTM-MNET, to run those rides for them. For how the rest of the state works, MnDOT certification, and DHS enrollment, use the Minnesota guide. For MTM’s rules in its other states, see the MTM Health guide.

Where MTM coordinates rides in Minnesota

The DHS provider manual names two host counties:

• Hennepin County hosts the contract for Anoka, Benton, Chisago, Dakota, Hennepin, Isanti, Mille Lacs, Pine, Ramsey, Sherburne, Stearns, Washington, and Wright counties. Members call 866-467-1724. MTM calls this group the Metro County Consortium, and its 2025 brochure lists the same 13 counties, though its Minnesota home and medical facilities pages still say ten.
• St. Louis County hosts the contract for Aitkin, Carlton, Lake, and St. Louis counties, effective January 1, 2019. Members call 844-399-9466. MTM’s northern page also lists Cook County, which the DHS manual leaves out, so ask MTM before you plan routes there.

Scott and Carver counties use SmartLink, and every other county or tribe arranges its own rides. Members of a Medical Assistance health plan get their rides through the plan, so those trips come under the plan’s own ride arrangements, not the county contracts. MTM also arranges rides for refugees covered by the Minnesota Department of Health who need pre-medical screenings.

Inside its counties, MTM serves fee-for-service members enrolled in Medical Assistance, Refugee Medical Assistance, state-only Medical Assistance while living in an institution for mental disease, and MinnesotaCare members who are under 21 or pregnant. The member must be going to a covered service with no free ride available.

What MTM handles and what it does not

The counties’ part of NEMT is modes 1 to 4, so that is what MTM coordinates:

• Gas mileage. A member who owns a working car and has no medical reason not to drive must take mileage reimbursement.
• Volunteer drivers. Only in Wright County, per MTM’s member page.
• Bus and Metro Mobility passes. A member within three quarters of a mile of a working transit stop may have to ride transit.
• Unassisted rides (mode 3). Curb to curb, usually in a sedan. A wheelchair user qualifies if they can move into the vehicle seat and the chair folds and stows.
• Assisted rides (mode 4). Door to door or through the door. The member needs a level-of-service assessment from the state’s medical review agent, at 844-681-8144, first.

MTM’s 2025 brochure lists who may be excused from transit: members whose nearest stop is more than three quarters of a mile from home or the clinic, members in the third trimester of pregnancy or at high risk, and members going to dialysis, chemotherapy, electroconvulsive therapy, or a traumatic brain injury clinic. Those exceptions decide which members ride with a company instead of the bus. See dialysis transportation.

MTM does not coordinate lift or ramp (mode 5), protected (mode 6), or stretcher (mode 7) rides. For fee-for-service members, DHS administers those itself and you bill DHS directly, as the Minnesota guide explains. A wheelchair van company in these counties works with MTM for its ambulatory riders and with DHS for its wheelchair riders.

How the money flows

You cannot bill DHS for unassisted or assisted rides in an MTM county. The DHS manual says MTM-MNET contracts with you, pays you, and bills DHS for the ride. MTM’s provider page says your rate is set with your company individually.

What DHS pays MTM is public. The base is $14.30 for an assisted ride (T2003) and $12.10 for an unassisted ride by a NEMT company (A0100). Mileage (S0215) has been $1.61 a mile for either since October 1, 2026, up from $1.51 on July 1 and $1.48 on April 1, because DHS adjusts it each quarter when Minnesota gasoline tops $3.00 a gallon. Mileage starts with the first mile the member is in the vehicle, by the most direct route. Rides for members whose home ZIP code is rural or super rural add more; see rural NEMT.

Two claim rules reach your company even though MTM sends the bill:

1. Your drivers must be enrolled. Since January 1, 2023, every NEMT claim names the driver’s MHCP number (UMPI) as the rendering provider, or it is not paid.
2. Your company must be enrolled. Since August 1, 2026, a coordinator’s claim lists the transportation company’s NPI or UMPI as the referring provider.

Give MTM your company number and every driver’s UMPI before the first trip. For how to price your side of the contract, see how to negotiate broker rates.

How to join MTM in Minnesota

1. Check where your company is located. DHS is not enrolling new NEMT providers located in Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, or Washington county until January 27, 2027. Eight of MTM-MNET’s counties sit outside that freeze: Benton, Chisago, Isanti, Mille Lacs, Pine, Sherburne, Stearns, and Wright, as do the northeast counties. See the metro enrollment freeze.
2. Get your MnDOT certificate. MTM’s provider application asks Minnesota applicants whether they hold a special transportation service (STS) certificate and will not go on without the MnDOT number printed on it.
3. Enroll with MHCP. Enroll the company with your STS certificate, vehicle list, screening fee, and fingerprint background studies, then enroll each driver. DHS allows 30 days to process, plus up to 60 for a site visit; the Minnesota guide has the forms.
4. Apply to MTM. Fill out the questionnaire on MTM’s Join Our Network page. A contract representative takes you through application, credentialing, and contracting, and MTM keeps applications on file where it has no current need.
5. Insure to MTM’s checklist. As of October 2026, general and auto liability of at least $1,000,000 each, with MTM as certificate holder and additional insured on both, plus workers’ compensation and any insurance the state requires.

Trips, cancellations, and no-shows

MTM sends trip assignments through its Electronic Trip Download (ETD) system. MTM checks each trip with the member and the facility before it reaches you, but you should still confirm the pickup and drop-off places and times in a call the day before. If you find an error, tell your vendor account manager right away so you are paid correctly.

MTM does not pay for no-shows or members who cancel at the door. When a member says they will not go, cancel the trip in MTM’s Provider Trip Management (PTM) app. MTM asks members to cancel at least 24 hours ahead, and repeated cancellations can suspend a member’s ride benefit for a time.

Booking rules shape your schedule:

• Notice. Members book routine rides three business days ahead, not counting weekends, holidays, or the day they call. Transit passes take three to five business days.
• Urgent rides. MTM confirms the need with the medical provider and tries to arrange a ride within three hours, at any hour.
• Standing orders. Dialysis rides can be booked six months at a time and other recurring rides three months at a time.
• Returns. A will-call return should be picked up within one hour of the call. A member whose ride is more than 15 minutes late calls MTM’s Where’s My Ride line, 888-863-9514, and MTM calls your driver.

Drivers wear identification every rider can see and help riders in and out, including opening doors and folding walkers or wheelchairs. Keep a full trip record for every leg with a trip log; Minnesota law lists what each record must hold.

What could change

State law calls for one statewide or regional NEMT administrator. A law signed May 27, 2026 keeps the counties’ role in arranging rides, and today’s rates, in place until that administrator starts, and DHS must give counties and health plans six months of notice first. See the administrator delay. The metro freeze began January 27, 2026 and has been extended once, to January 27, 2027, so check DHS provider news before that date.

For questions, call the MHCP Provider Resource Center at 651-431-2700 or 800-366-5411, or email transportation.DHS@state.mn.us about the freeze. Medical facilities reach MTM’s outreach team at CO-MN@mtm-inc.net.