RTEC, the HSTD Medicaid Broker for Kentucky Region 12: How to Join in 2027

Rural Transit Enterprises Coordinated, Inc. (RTEC) is a nonprofit transit system with its central business office at 100 Main Street in Mount Vernon, Rockcastle County. It was organized in 1989, opened community transit to the public in July 1990, and grew from a single county into a 15-county system. As of September 2026, RTEC says it provides more than 50,000 trips a month.

It is also the Medicaid ride broker for Region 12 of Kentucky’s Human Service Transportation Delivery (HSTD) program, as the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) lists it in September 2026. Every Medicaid ride request in the region reaches RTEC first. RTEC checks the rider’s eligibility, then carries the trip on its own vehicles or issues a ride ticket to a carrier in its provider network.

Your subcontract is signed with RTEC, but the state keeps three decisions for itself: whether your company may carry passengers for hire, whether you may join the network, and what each trip pays. That is why the first step is state operating authority, not a call to RTEC.

RTEC at a glance

Item	As of September 2026
Legal name	Rural Transit Enterprises Coordinated, Inc.
Roles	HSTD Medicaid broker for Region 12, and a rural public transit operator
Medicaid counties	Bell, Clinton, Cumberland, Knox, Laurel, McCreary, Monroe, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Russell, Wayne, Whitley
Public transit counties	The 12 above plus Adair, Green, and Taylor
Central business office	100 Main Street, Mount Vernon, KY 40456, 606-256-9835
Reservations and after-hours paging	1-800-321-7832 (1-800-321-RTEC)
Fleet	240 vehicles, 162 of them cutaway buses, in KYTC’s transit asset plan revised August 25, 2026
Broker’s monthly payment per Medicaid member	$13.95, in the November 5, 2025 briefing to lawmakers
Who sets your trip rate	KYTC, one rate per service type for all of Region 12

The $13.95 is the capitation the Department for Medicaid Services (DMS) pays RTEC each month for each Medicaid member in the region. It funds the whole region’s rides and RTEC’s own costs, so it says nothing about what one trip pays you. Of the 15 regions in the table DMS and KYTC showed lawmakers, only Region 5, at $14.69, was higher. The lowest was Region 11 at $6.88.

KYTC picks each broker through a request for proposals under KRS Chapter 45A. A broker contract runs one state fiscal year, July 1 to June 30, and can be renewed four times for a year each (603 KAR 7:080). Kentucky’s federal 1915(b) waiver, approved for April 1, 2025 through March 31, 2027, notes that each region bids on its own schedule.

Where RTEC books Medicaid rides, and where it does not

A Medicaid rider books with the broker for the county the rider lives in (603 KAR 7:080). RTEC’s How to Ride page applies that rule to its own riders: a passenger must live in one of the 12 Region 12 counties to take a Medicaid trip with RTEC.

That matters most at the western edge of RTEC’s map. As of September 2026, its buses serve Adair, Green, and Taylor counties for cash fares, but KYTC places those three in Region 5, where LKLP is the Medicaid broker. KYTC tells a new company to contact the broker for the counties it plans to serve, so Medicaid work in those three counties means a subcontract with LKLP, not RTEC. Farther east, Region 14 books through Sandy Valley Transportation Services.

Distance rules shape the routes too. As DMS and KYTC told lawmakers on November 5, 2025, a rider’s medical service area is the home county and the counties that touch it, and a trip beyond it needs a referral. DMS says that referral comes from the rider’s primary care physician. Stretcher rides are outside the HSTD waiver, so they are not part of an RTEC subcontract. Our rural NEMT guide covers how to price long runs between these counties.

How to become an RTEC subcontractor

KYTC’s process is the same in every region, but the order matters, because RTEC cannot sign you until the state has cleared your company.

1. Form the company. File with the Kentucky Secretary of State if your structure requires it, and get an employer identification number. The MAP-811 checklist asks for the IRS letter that verifies it.
2. Line up insurance and one vehicle. Your insurer files a Form E with the Division of Motor Carriers. You need at least one vehicle with a county clerk plate before Motor Carriers will grant a certificate.
3. Clear every vehicle and driver. Motor Carriers wants a technician’s inspection of each vehicle and a nationwide criminal background check on each driver, run by one of its approved screening companies, done before the application goes in.
4. Apply for Taxi or Disabled Persons Vehicle (DPV) authority. Call Motor Carriers at 502-564-1257 or use the Motor Carrier Portal. Every DPV vehicle needs a built-in lift or ramp and may still carry riders who walk. Allow up to 14 business days. As of September 2026, the certificate costs $250 to apply and $250 to renew each year (KRS 281.630).
5. Qualify your vehicles. After approval, each vehicle you qualify gets its own plate and fee receipt card from Motor Carriers.
6. Call RTEC. Tell the central business office at 606-256-9835 that you hold a certificate and want to subcontract. Name the counties and service types you plan to run.
7. Go through RTEC’s review. RTEC reviews the contract with you, inspects your vehicles, and takes copies of the papers listed below. It also walks you through the statewide random drug and alcohol pool, background checks, pre-employment tests for safety-sensitive staff, and the minimum driver training.
8. File your Medicaid applications. Each service type needs its own MAP-811, signed in ink, since the checklist turns away electronic or stamped signatures. RTEC signs the transportation broker block and hands it back. You then file online in the Kentucky Medicaid Partner Portal (KY MPPA), with RTEC’s signature page and your operating certificate as uploads.
9. Pass Cabinet approval and orientation. Kentucky Medicaid issues a welcome letter with a provider number for every type it approves. Print each one for RTEC, which forwards your file to KYTC’s Office of Transportation Delivery. The Cabinet has to approve you before you and RTEC sign, and RTEC holds an orientation with your company before it sends a first trip.

KYTC also sets a size floor: a new provider keeps at least three active, approved drivers and three working passenger vehicles. Kentucky Medicaid takes applications only through KY MPPA, and provider type 56 is not among the types that pay the federal application fee ($750 in 2026).

Which Medicaid numbers to request

Each MAP-811 carries provider type 56 in box 7 and one specialty code in box 8, so a company files up to three:

Service type	Riders	Box 8 code	Who files it
02	Ambulatory riders with no special needs	263	For-profit companies
04	Ambulatory riders on a nonprofit’s bus	262	Nonprofits
07	Ambulatory riders who are disoriented and may need an escort	264	Either
08	Wheelchair riders, in a lift or ramp vehicle	265	Either

Attach NPPES proof of your NPI and taxonomy code to each one, as the checklist requires.

Papers RTEC keeps on file

• Your operating authority certificate and each vehicle’s fee receipt card
• Proof of vehicle liability insurance and of Kentucky workers’ compensation coverage
• Vehicle registrations and any vehicle lease agreements
• Signed HIPAA confidentiality statements for your employees and a current list of safety-sensitive staff
• A copy of your signed RTEC agreement and each Medicaid welcome letter

Under 603 KAR 7:080, the agreement itself must spell out how payment works, your hours and scheduling rules, the rates, pickup and delivery standards, how long it lasts, and its termination and penalty terms. Read those parts before you sign.

How RTEC shares trips with subcontractors

You would be joining a network where the broker is also the biggest carrier. KYTC’s transit asset plan, revised August 25, 2026, inventories 240 RTEC vehicles: 162 cutaway buses, 38 minivans, and the rest vans, SUVs, buses, and automobiles. RTEC says more than 75% of its bus fleet has a wheelchair lift or ramp.

On each Medicaid call, an RTEC reservationist checks the rider’s coverage in KYHealth-Net, books the appointment, and sends the request to Medicaid Services for approval or denial. Only then does the trip go to a vehicle. Kentucky law sets the rules for who gets it:

• Named provider. A rider certified for Type 07 or Type 08 can request a specific eligible subcontractor, or RTEC, and still makes the booking through RTEC (KRS 281.874). RTEC may extend that choice to Type 02 riders but does not have to.
• No preference named. RTEC picks, and it must spread Type 07 and 08 requests fairly among itself and every subcontractor certified for them. 603 KAR 7:080 ranks the tests: coordination first, then cost, then rotation among providers.
• No head start in bidding. KRS 281.875 bars the Cabinet from scoring a broker higher because it also runs vehicles.

Three things are off limits to you under 603 KAR 7:080: passing an assigned trip to another company, taking part in deciding who is eligible or how they travel, and soliciting Medicaid trips. The right to name a provider only has to cover Types 07 and 08, so that is where a subcontractor can build a following of regular riders. Ask RTEC which counties are short on Type 07 and 08 capacity before you buy a van. Our guide to getting more broker trips covers what to do once you are in.

RTEC’s rider rules your drivers work under

RTEC posts its own rules for Medicaid riders. They set when trips are booked, who rides along, and how far a driver goes past the curb. As of September 2026:

Topic	RTEC’s rule
Booking notice	72 hours, except urgent care
Reservation hours	8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, local time
Ride hours	6 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday
Holidays	Closed New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, except urgent care
Urgent care	A rider who must be seen the same day can page RTEC 24 hours a day; RTEC may confirm the need with the medical provider
Shared routes	Vehicles are dispatched to fill seats, so a rider may need to leave home 45 minutes before the scheduled pickup
Return trips	Riders give an estimated return time and call RTEC when the visit ends
Cancellations	The scheduling page asks for 24 hours when possible; the services page accepts 2 hours
Levels of service	Curb to curb; door to door, which may need a physician’s statement; and wheelchair service from the residence threshold to the destination
Entering buildings	Drivers do not enter residences, and enter facilities only with RTEC management’s approval
Escorts	Free for blind, disoriented, and wheelchair riders; specialty service needs a physician’s statement
Children	Riders 12 and under travel with an adult, who brings any child seat the child needs, and the seat must meet federal safety standards

RTEC’s accessibility policy also lists what driver help does not include: taking a rider through the doorway of a home, helping a rider in or out of a wheelchair, helping a rider get ready, giving medication or oxygen, or taking a wheelchair up or down stairs with more than one step. Train your drivers to the same line.

State rules sit underneath. 603 KAR 7:080 tells riders to be ready 15 minutes early and to cancel no later than 24 hours before the trip, so ask RTEC how your subcontract treats late cancellations. When a Type 07 or 08 rider needs help to and from the vehicle but no escort, your driver gives it if it takes under 5 minutes and the driver can keep the vehicle in sight while others are aboard, with the engine off or a transmission lock set, and the key in hand (KRS 281.873). RTEC’s call-when-ready returns are will-call trips, so plan driver time with our guide to managing will-call trips.

Snow, ice, and closed roads

RTEC’s own weather rule decides what happens to its trips on a bad morning. As of September 2026, it closes service when roads are hazardous or runs on a limited basis. Service comes back first on roads that are priority for snow removal, and regular service resumes once all roads are clear and safe.

State rules add a floor. Under 603 KAR 7:080, RTEC’s weather plan needs the Cabinet’s approval and must cover what drivers do, how riders and local media hear about changes, and how service continues. RTEC may not run in conditions that put a driver or rider at risk, and it can ask the National Guard or other emergency units to help carry dialysis and urgent care riders.

Before your first winter, ask RTEC how it will tell you about a closure, whether your booked trips cancel with its own, and who covers dialysis runs. Then write your policy to match, using our bad weather policy guide and dialysis transportation guide.

Drivers, vehicles, and insurance

RTEC checks these for the Cabinet, and KYTC inspects vehicles too. The full lists sit in our Kentucky state guide. Have these ready before RTEC’s first inspection:

• Drivers and escorts. Age 18 or older, a Kentucky license for the vehicle driven, two or fewer moving violation convictions in 3 years, and no conviction for a sexual or violent crime. A misdemeanor or felony conviction within 5 years means RTEC, your company, and the Cabinet must all approve the person first. Each passes a pre-employment drug test, takes first aid, bloodborne pathogens, and passenger assistance training, and wears a name tag and company photo ID.
• Inspections. A vehicle outside the state’s commercial motor carrier safety rule (601 KAR 1:005) needs a technician’s written safety inspection before its first HSTD trip and every year after. RTEC takes any vehicle that fails licensing, authority, or safety rules out of service immediately.
• Equipment. Two-way contact with dispatch, working heat and air conditioning, two seat belt extensions and a mounted belt cutter, a fire extinguisher with a current tag, three reflective triangles, first aid and spill kits, and your company’s legal name on the driver and passenger doors in letters 2 inches tall.
• Insurance. KRS 281.655 sets each vehicle’s minimum at $100,000 for one person’s injury or death, $50,000 for property damage, and $300,000 for all injuries in one accident, or $600,000 on a vehicle with 8 or more regular seats. RTEC also collects proof of Kentucky workers’ compensation.

Check each van against our vehicle inspection checklist and each hire against our driver file checklist.

How RTEC pays you

RTEC does not set your rate. The Cabinet fixes a rate for each certificate type in each region, and it must be the same for every eligible Region 12 provider, RTEC’s own vehicles included (603 KAR 7:080). Its factors are terrain, trip distance, rider population, access to medical and job sites, labor and economic conditions, and use of the service. Brokers get 45 days’ notice of any change to subcontractor rates.

KYTC’s report for state fiscal year 2023 says subcontractor rates took effect July 1, 2022, that six regions were adjusted May 1, 2023, and that rates are reviewed quarterly. Region 12 was not one of the six. Ask RTEC for its current rate sheet and the date it took effect.

Money moves on a monthly cycle set by KRS 281.875 and 603 KAR 7:080:

When	What happens
By the 1st	You send RTEC a valid invoice for last month’s trips; one dated after the 1st waits a month
By the 7th	RTEC sends the Cabinet its payment reports
By the 15th	The Cabinet pays RTEC, once the reports and DMS’s eligible count are in
Within 3 business days	RTEC pays you

RTEC must receive each invoice within 6 months of the trip date. Hold on to trip records, including the encounter data you collect on every trip, for 5 years. Report any moving violation or accident on a trip to RTEC right away, because RTEC has 24 hours to report it to the Cabinet. See how to bill NEMT brokers.

Local pay and price markers

RTEC’s own numbers help you plan in the same counties. As of September 2026, its home page says drivers start at $17.00 an hour. Its public cash fare is $1.00 a mile with a $4.00 minimum during regular hours, or $1.50 a mile with a $6.00 minimum outside them, and it charges $7.00 an hour for waiting. Compare them with our guides to NEMT driver pay and how much to charge for NEMT.

House Bill 2 and the 2027 waiver

Kentucky’s House Bill 2 was delivered to the Secretary of State as Acts Chapter 179 on April 14, 2026, the day lawmakers overrode the governor’s line-item vetoes. Its Section 14 applies to the regional broker program, not to rides a Medicaid managed care plan covers. For Region 12 providers, four parts stand out:

• GPS. RTEC must make sure every vehicle on its Medicaid trips carries a GPS device that shows RTEC the vehicle’s location, at RTEC’s cost. Ask which device your vans will get and when.
• Pay tied to results. The law calls for a payment model that holds back 2% of each broker’s capitation, which the broker earns back in full or in part on measures such as completed, canceled, and delayed trips, average trip time, and rider satisfaction. Your on-time record feeds RTEC’s score.
• Spending floor. Each broker must reach a medical loss ratio of at least 85% in the fiscal year that began July 1, 2026, rising in steps to 90% from July 1, 2029, and must return excess capitation in any year it falls short.
• Facility rides. A hospital or skilled nursing facility may carry its own patients or residents on Medicaid trips, and the broker pays it the mileage rate a contracted driver would get for the same trip.

Two dates to watch: the Medicaid Oversight and Advisory Board’s report on the regional broker system and other states’ models is due December 31, 2026, unless the Legislative Research Commission reassigns the study, and the current federal waiver ends March 31, 2027 unless Kentucky renews it. Our HB 2 report covers the rest of the law.

How to reach RTEC

For	Contact
Central business office	606-256-9835, weekdays 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern
Reservations and urgent care paging	1-800-321-7832
Fax	606-256-4319
TTY	606-256-2047, or Kentucky Relay at 711
Mail	P.O. Box 746, Mount Vernon, KY 40456-0746
Operating authority (Division of Motor Carriers)	502-564-1257
HSTD program (Office of Transportation Delivery)	502-564-7433, weekdays 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern
HSTD complaints and denials	1-888-941-7433
Kentucky Medicaid enrollment (KY MPPA contact center)	877-838-5085

Have your certificate, each vehicle’s fee receipt card, your insurance papers, and your driver roster at hand when you call RTEC. For how to approach any broker, see how to get NEMT broker contracts.