How to Become a SafeRide Health Transportation Provider in 2027

In every Medicaid program on this page, SafeRide Health works for a health plan, not for the state. Each plan picks the broker for its own members. So two questions decide whether SafeRide work is open to you: do the plans in your area use SafeRide, and can your company, drivers, and vehicles pass its credentialing.

Where SafeRide Health arranges rides

SafeRide was founded in 2016 and is based in San Antonio, Texas. It works mainly for Medicaid and Medicare Advantage health plans. A plan hires SafeRide to book its members’ rides, and SafeRide sends each ride to a transportation company, a rideshare, or public transit. As of September 2026, its member page lists 73 health plans, from Medicaid plans to Medicare Advantage plans such as SCAN Health Plan. On September 15, 2026, SafeRide said it manages more than 12 million rides a year through more than 1,000 credentialed transportation providers.

These Medicaid programs are confirmed by the state or the health plan itself:

State	Health plan or program	SafeRide since
Texas	Superior HealthPlan	June 1, 2021
Texas	Community First, Driscoll, Molina Healthcare of Texas, Texas Children’s Health Plan	On the state’s vendor list, September 2026
Texas	UnitedHealthcare Community Plan (STAR, STAR Kids, STAR+PLUS)	January 1, 2026
Michigan	Priority Health Choice Medicaid and Healthy Michigan Plan	December 1, 2023
Michigan	Meridian Health Plan Medicaid and Wellcare by Meridian	May 1, 2024
Ohio	Buckeye Health Plan Medicaid	July 1, 2024
Kansas	Sunflower Health Plan (KanCare)	November 1, 2024
Nevada	Rural members of CareSource and SilverSummit Healthplan	On the state’s ride flyer, March 2026. Most rural members moved into these plans on January 1, 2026.

Plans change brokers, so check before you apply. Texas Health and Human Services keeps a list of each Medicaid plan’s transportation vendor. As of September 2026, the other Texas plans on that list use MTM Health. The one exception, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, moves its Medicaid members from Modivcare to MTM Health on October 1, 2026. In Nevada, members in urban counties and rural members without a health plan get rides from MTM Health instead. For the state rules behind these programs, see the Texas, Michigan, Ohio, Kansas, and Nevada guides and how to contract with Medicaid health plans.

SafeRide contracts for these levels of service: ambulatory (curb to curb and door to door), wheelchair and bariatric, two-person assist, stretcher, and basic and advanced life support ambulance.

How to join SafeRide’s network

1. Check the plans near you. Match the counties you serve to the plans in the table. If none of them use SafeRide, its network has little work for you there.
2. Fill out the signup form. It sits on SafeRide’s “What to expect as a NEMT provider” page and asks for:
   • The owner’s name, email, phone, birthdate, and driver’s license.
   • Your company name, DBA, NPI, EIN, and address. Use a real NPI, or the form will not go through. See how to get an NPI number for NEMT.
   • Whether you are approved for Medicaid rides, and your Medicaid ID if you have one.
   • The dispatch software you use, your auto and general liability limits, and every state and county you will serve.
   • Business certifications you hold: historically underutilized, minority, women, veteran, or disadvantaged or disability-owned business.
   • Your dispatch, scheduled, and after-hours times.
   • Your fleet: vehicles of each type (ambulatory, wheelchair, stretcher, ambulance), the rides per day you can give SafeRide for each, and your driver count.
3. Finish within 30 days. An application left unfinished for 30 days has to start over.
4. Send your credentialing files. SafeRide needs company, driver, and vehicle documents before any ride. The list is in the next section.
5. Onboard with your network vendor manager. SafeRide assigns you one. An account success manager invites the owner to the provider web app by email, and the owner adds dispatchers under Fleet, then Dispatchers.
6. Set up your drivers. Each driver downloads the SafeRide Health app, enters the 8-digit device ID from the Fleet tab, and creates a personal 4-digit PIN.

What SafeRide requires from your company, drivers, and vehicles

SafeRide’s credentialing list, as of September 2026:

Item	What SafeRide asks for
General liability	At least $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate
Auto liability	At least $500,000
Additional insured	SafeRide on your certificate, and included on your commercial and auto policies
License	Your company licensed for NEMT in every area you serve
Each vehicle	Current registration and insurance card
Each driver	Driver’s license and Social Security card
Driver checks	National background check, state check where required, national sex offender registry, state registry where required, motor vehicle report, and a pre-hire drug screen
Driver training	First aid, CPR, or AED; defensive driving; passenger assistance; and wheelchair securement for drivers who carry wheelchair users

Keep every file current. A driver with an expired document cannot take SafeRide trips until it is renewed, and SafeRide expects answers to compliance requests within 48 hours. Some health plan contracts also require you to sign extra attestations. For a full document checklist, see NEMT broker credentialing and NEMT insurance requirements.

Federal law sets a floor under every plan’s rules. Under section 1902(a)(87) of the Social Security Act, as CMS explained on September 28, 2023, no NEMT provider or driver may be on a federal exclusion list, and every driver needs a valid license. Your company also needs a process to deal with state drug law violations and to report each driver’s driving history to the state.

Texas health plans add state rules

Texas Medicaid plans and their transportation vendors follow chapter 16.4 of the state’s Uniform Managed Care Manual, the NEMT Services Handbook (version 2.0.1, effective August 1, 2021, and still the posted version in September 2026). Its rules sit on top of SafeRide’s list:

• Medicaid enrollment first. A transportation company must be enrolled in Texas Medicaid through TMHP, the state’s claims administrator, before it contracts with a plan or the plan’s vendor.
• Insurance. Plans and their vendors must make sure providers carry the coverage in section 5300 of the handbook. It starts with $750,000 combined single limit business auto for owned, hired, and non-owned vehicles, and workers’ compensation at statutory limits with $1 million employer’s liability. The section also lists $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate general liability and a $1 million umbrella. Ask SafeRide which of these it applies to your contract.
• Driver checks. Drivers must be at least 18. Each gets a state and national criminal history check and a DPS driving record check. Sex offender registry and exclusion database checks run before hire and every year, and the OIG exclusion list and SAM every month.
• Disqualifiers. No DWI in the seven years before hire or at any time since, and no more than one moving violation in any 12 months. No conviction ever for abuse, neglect, or exploitation of children, older adults, or people with disabilities, and no Medicaid fraud conviction or finding. No felony or misdemeanor in the seven years before hire, or at any time since, for drug crimes or for crimes against a person, a family, property, public order or decency, or public health, safety, or morals.
• Drug testing. Drivers fall under a drug and alcohol testing program that follows 49 CFR Parts 40 and 655.
• Training. Within 30 days of hire, drivers complete passenger assistance, passenger safety, assistive devices (lifts, tie-downs, and child safety seats), defensive driving, sensitivity, and conduct training, then repeat each every one to three years.
• Vehicles. Your company name and vehicle number in letters at least six inches high, a “How is my driving?” sticker with a phone number, a fire extinguisher, a first aid kit, three reflective triangles, and a step stool if there is no running board. A milk crate never counts as a step stool.
• Timing. Riders are scheduled to arrive 15 minutes to one hour before the appointment. On a shared ride, no rider may spend more than one hour longer than a direct trip. If your van is more than 30 minutes late for a pickup, or 30 minutes past a rider’s call for a return ride, the vendor must send a backup ride.
• Reporting. Tell the plan’s vendor in writing within 10 business days if a driver is convicted, charged with a felony, or added to a sex offender registry.

How SafeRide sends you trips

Rides arrive in SafeRide’s provider web app in two ways:

• On Demand requests are for the same day. An alert appears in the Live Chat tab. You open the chat, read the ride details, and confirm it or suggest another time.
• Next Day requests are made more than a day ahead. They stack by day in the Live Rides tab, where you assign each one to a driver. A calendar view shows each ride’s route and how long it takes.

Each plan asks members to book ahead, and that advance notice decides how far ahead you can see your schedule:

Plan	Members book at least
UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Texas	2 business days ahead, or 5 for long-distance trips (notice of November 21, 2025)
Meridian (Michigan)	72 hours ahead, with same-day rides for urgent visits
Sunflower Health Plan (Kansas)	3 days before the day of the appointment
Buckeye Health Plan (Ohio)	48 business hours ahead for routine rides
Nevada Medicaid	3 business days ahead, with hospital discharges and urgent care served sooner

SafeRide’s provider guide, linked from its provider page as of September 2026, sets these expectations:

• Confirm the rides you can realistically do by 2 p.m. local time.
• Accept 50 percent of same-day bookings.
• Check the next five days and confirm as many rides as you can.
• Stay reachable by phone through all your operating hours.
• Call SafeRide whenever you cancel a ride or a member does not show.
• Report an accident or incident with injury or property damage within 1 hour, and any other within 24 hours.
• Answer requests from its complaints and grievances team within 24 hours.

Volume follows capacity, service area, cost, and how well you meet service standards. The providers with the best performance and the most capacity are offered new areas first. SafeRide said on September 15, 2026 that it assigns about 95 percent of rides by algorithm. Expect weekly meetings with your network vendor manager and quarterly town halls. For how offers work across brokers, see NEMT broker trip offers.

On the road, drivers tap Begin Ride when they head to the pickup, then Arrived, Started once the rider is on board, and Completed at drop-off. In Texas, the state handbook adds that a driver must wait at least 10 minutes past the scheduled pickup before calling a no-show, and every cancellation and no-show must be documented.

Performance standards and the Tier 1 program

To stay in the network, SafeRide requires these rates on a continuing basis:

Measure	SafeRide’s standard
Ride response rate	100 percent
Ride acceptance rate	95 percent or more
On-time performance	95 percent or more
Complaint rate	Under 1 percent
Kickback rate	Under 5 percent

Ask your network vendor manager exactly how each rate is counted, including what counts as a kickback, and track your own numbers weekly. See NEMT broker scorecards.

Tier 1 is SafeRide’s program for its top providers. A Tier 1 provider agrees to deliver a set number of rides each month. In return, SafeRide lists these benefits:

• Priority access to more rides in the markets you want.
• Guaranteed payment turnaround times and automated claims.
• Weekly performance scorecards.
• Pricing that varies by region.
• A dedicated network vendor manager and help with driver and vehicle compliance.

How SafeRide pays

SafeRide wants trips billed daily. Each claim carries the trip’s timestamps and the driver and vehicle who did it, so SafeRide can confirm the trip happened and met its service levels. Its provider guide says completed rides are paid within 30 days of a properly completed ride.

Your rate is set in your SafeRide agreement, and Tier 1 pricing varies by region. In Texas, the state handbook requires claims within 95 days of the date of service, and the plan or its vendor must decide each claim within 30 days of receiving it. See timely filing limits. Record every time and signature on a trip log so each claim matches the trip. See how to bill NEMT brokers.

Who to call at SafeRide

For	Contact
New providers	team@saferidehealth.com or (855) 955-7433
Current providers	Your network vendor manager
Provider and driver sign in	app.saferidehealth.com

Before you call, have your NPI, EIN, insurance certificate, county list, and fleet counts ready. Ask which plans in your counties need more rides, which levels of service are short, and how long credentialing is taking.