How to Become a Tennessee Carriers Transportation Provider in 2027

Tennessee Carriers, Inc. is a Medicaid ride broker based in Memphis. TennCare, Tennessee’s Medicaid program, pays health plans to cover its members, and each plan is responsible for its members’ nonemergency rides. The plans hire brokers to book those rides. Tennessee Carriers books them for UnitedHealthcare Community Plan and Wellpoint, and assigns each trip to a transportation company in its network. The company says it has served TennCare since 1994. It picks new companies based on network needs, capabilities, experience, and location, so your county and your vehicle types matter as much as your paperwork.

Which TennCare riders Tennessee Carriers serves

TennCare splits its rides between two brokers by health plan. As of September 2026, TennCare’s ride sheet (revised June 2026) and its hospital discharge sheet (revised November 2025) list:

Health plan	Broker	Member ride line
UnitedHealthcare Community Plan (TennCare)	Tennessee Carriers	1-866-405-0238
UnitedHealthcare Dual Complete (HMO SNP)	Tennessee Carriers	1-866-405-0238
Wellpoint, formerly Amerigroup (TennCare)	Tennessee Carriers	1-866-680-0633
Wellpoint Medicare Advantage	Tennessee Carriers	1-866-680-0633
BlueCare Tennessee	Verida	1-855-735-4660
TennCare Select	Verida	1-866-473-7565
BlueCare Plus	Verida	1-855-681-5032

TennCare’s statewide health plan contract requires each plan under it to serve all three grand regions of the state: East, Middle, and West. The current contract runs through December 31, 2026, so check TennCare’s ride sheet again in January 2027 before you plan around this split. UnitedHealthcare’s 2026 manual for its Dual Complete plan says Tennessee Carriers handles its NEMT network contracting and reaches out to providers to sign new contracts.

To carry every TennCare rider near you, you need an agreement with each broker. Verida runs its own four-step process, covered on the Verida provider page. For the state’s enrollment rules, licenses, and rates, see the Tennessee state guide.

A rider’s broker follows the rider’s health plan. TennCare members can change plans during their region’s yearly change period: March in West Tennessee, May in Middle Tennessee, and July in East Tennessee. TennCare processes the requests the following month, and the new plan starts on the first day of the month after that. A BlueCare rider in East Tennessee who switches to UnitedHealthcare in July books rides through Tennessee Carriers from September 1.

TennCare’s contract also tells each plan to offer network spots to the state’s ten Human Resource Agencies, to residential and day service providers in Department of Disability and Aging waivers (for the waiver participants they serve), and to rideshare companies that accept TennCare’s rideshare policy.

How to become a Tennessee Carriers provider

As of September 2026, joining takes these steps.

1. Get your NPI. Apply in NPPES for an organization NPI. For ambulatory and wheelchair service, the Tennessee Carriers form lists taxonomy 343900000X (Non-Emergency Medical Transport). The form lists 341600000X and 3416L0300X for ambulance companies. See how to get an NPI for NEMT and taxonomy codes.
2. Register with TennCare for a Medicaid ID. Companies register on the TennCare Provider Registration portal under “All Other Provider Registration Information.” You create an account, upload any license or certification your provider type requires, and disclose every owner, managing employee, and person with control. After review, TennCare emails a welcome letter with your Medicaid ID and its effective date. TennCare’s FAQ says a provider without an active Medicaid ID cannot be considered for a contract with any TennCare health plan, and federal rules require states to enroll every network provider of a Medicaid health plan (42 CFR 438.602).
3. Fill out the Prospective NEMT Transporter Information Form. Download it from the Tennessee Carriers NEMT page, fill it out on your computer, and complete every section. Tennessee Carriers does not accept incomplete or inaccurate applications.
4. Take four screenshots of your TennCare file. Log in to the TennCare Provider Registration portal and capture your home page. Open “View Provider File (Read Only)” under Manage My Account. All seven items on the left must show a green check mark. Then capture the Identification, Licenses and Classifications, and ACH Authorization sections.
5. Email the form and screenshots to NEMTOnboarding@tenncarriers.com.
6. Wait for a network decision. Tennessee Carriers says not everyone who applies is accepted.
7. Sign, get inspected, and train. Under TennCare’s contract, your provider agreement follows a template approved by the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance. Every vehicle other than a stretcher van or ambulance must pass a full inspection before service, every driver needs 32 hours of training, and your dispatchers, supervisors, and mechanics must be trained before you start.

What the application asks for

The form, version 2019-2, asks for:

• Company name, DBA, business address, county, and business type (sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, LLC, government, or nonprofit).
• Minority, woman, veteran, disability, LGBT, state, or city business certifications, if you have them.
• Your tax ID (or a note that you use the owner’s Social Security number), NPI, whether that NPI is registered with TennCare, your TN Medicaid Provider ID, Medicare number, taxonomy code, and state specialty code.
• Dispatch hours and office hours for each day of the week, and your garage address.
• Total vehicles and drivers, and a count of ambulatory, wheelchair, invalid stretcher, BLS ambulance, and ALS ambulance vehicles.
• Every county where you offer contracted rates, and whether you keep vehicles there.
• Names, cell and office phones, and emails for your owner, administration, dispatch, driver management, and vehicle management staff.

The form’s specialty code table lists 264 for ambulatory only, 265 for wheelchair or wheelchair and ambulatory, and 260 for ambulance. Gather the rest of your file before you apply with the NEMT credentialing checklist and NEMT broker credentialing.

What TennCare requires from your drivers

Every company in the network must meet the NEMT rules in Attachment XI of TennCare’s contract with its health plans. The version with Amendment 25, effective July 1, 2026, sets these minimum driver standards. Each plan writes its own driver rules on top of them, so read your Tennessee Carriers agreement for anything stricter.

Rule	TennCare standard
Age and license	At least 18, with a Class D license and F (for hire) endorsement or a Class A, B, or C commercial license, from Tennessee or the driver’s home state
Physical exam	Before the first trip, at least as thorough as the federal commercial driver medical exam, and again after events such as a heart attack or stroke
Drug and alcohol tests	Before the first trip, at random (at least 20 percent of drivers each year), on reasonable suspicion, and the same day after an accident. Every driver tested within the last 5 years
Criminal background	A Tennessee check under TCA 38-6-109 plus a national check, before service and every 5 years
Registries and exclusions	Tennessee Abuse Registry, Tennessee Felony Offender Registry, the OIG exclusion list, SAM, and the TennCare Terminated Provider List
Sex offender registries	National and Tennessee registries, before service and every year
Health care crimes	No conviction related to Medicare, Medicaid, or Title XX services
Driving record	A motor vehicle record from every state the driver has lived in, before service and every year

Each health plan sets its own list of disqualifying crimes, and it must include at least the permanent and interim disqualifying offenses for a Tennessee hazardous materials endorsement. The driving record must show:

Violation	Allowed
DUI, DWI, or another major moving violation	None in the past 10 years
Reckless driving	None in the past 36 months
Leaving the scene of an injury or fatal accident	None in the past 36 months
Felony involving a vehicle	None in the past 36 months
Minor moving violations, such as speeding or failure to stop	No more than 2 in the past 12 months
At-fault accidents with injury or damage	No more than 1 in the past 36 months
An at-fault accident plus a separate minor violation	Not both in the past 36 months

Drivers must tell you right away about an arrest, charge, or conviction that would disqualify them, a moving violation, or a suspended or revoked license, and you must report it right away too. The health plan must pull any driver, vehicle, or company out of service as soon as it finds a problem, and TennCare can charge the plan $2,500 a day for each driver out of compliance. Keep proof of every check in each driver’s file, because audits can come unannounced. The driver file checklist helps.

Driver training: 32 hours, then 15 hours a year

Every driver needs at least 32 hours of training before the first trip and at least 15 hours each year. Training counts as on time when it is done by the end of the month it expires. The contract lists 18 required topics:

• Customer service, passenger assistance, and sensitivity training
• Behavioral health and substance use issues
• Title VI civil rights, HIPAA privacy, and ADA requirements
• Wheelchair securement and safety, seat belts, and child restraints
• Handling and reporting accidents and incidents, and emergency evacuation
• Daily vehicle inspection, defensive driving, and risk management
• Communications, infection control, annual road tests, and reporting fraud, waste, and abuse

The contract also sets driver conduct rules. Drivers wear a readable ID badge with their name and your company name, never smoke or eat in the vehicle or near a rider, and wear no headphones except hands-free phone headsets. Phones are only for talking with your company, dispatch, or the broker. Drivers open and close doors, park so the rider does not cross a street, watch the rider get inside, and never leave a rider alone. See NEMT driver training for building the program.

What TennCare requires from your vehicles and insurance

Every NEMT provider agreement must require this insurance before your first TennCare trip:

Coverage	Minimum under TennCare’s contract (July 1, 2026)
Auto liability	$1,000,000 combined single limit per occurrence, covering owned, leased, hired, and non-owned vehicles
Commercial general liability	$1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate
Workers’ compensation and employer’s liability	All-states coverage, with employer’s liability of $1,000,000 per occurrence or the statutory amount, whichever is greater

Ask Tennessee Carriers which names it wants on your certificate before you buy. See NEMT insurance requirements for how these policies work.

Every vehicle other than a public bus or an ambulance must meet the contract’s vehicle list:

• Safety gear. A working seat belt for every seat, stored off the floor. At least two seat belt extensions and a seat belt cutter within the driver’s reach. A mounted Class B chemical fire extinguisher in the driver’s compartment, inspected in the past 12 months. Emergency triangles, a stocked first aid kit, and a spill kit. Child safety seats are used as state law requires, and members bring their own.
• Signs. Your business name and phone number on both sides in letters at least 3 inches tall. No words that suggest TennCare members ride inside. Inside the vehicle, the license number, the health plan’s toll-free number, and complaint procedures in English and Spanish. “ALL PASSENGERS SHALL USE SEAT BELTS” and “NO SMOKING” signs, and a railroad crossing decal if the vehicle must stop at crossings.
• Condition. Working heat and air conditioning, interior lights, two outside mirrors, and an inside mirror. A clean body without broken glass or major dents, a clean interior without torn seats or sharp edges, and a smooth ride. No more people than the maker’s seating capacity.
• Paperwork. A packet with the registration, insurance card, and accident forms.
• Wheelchair vans. ADA accessibility specifications for transportation vehicles.

TennCare’s contract requires a full inspection of every vehicle before it enters service and at least once a year, including a test of your radios or phones. A passing vehicle gets a sticker on the outside of the passenger-side rear window, lower right corner, showing its license plate number. Prepare with the vehicle inspection checklist.

Stretcher and ambulance companies

Stretcher vans must be owned and run by a company licensed by the Tennessee Department of Health for invalid services, with a current ground invalid vehicle permit. Ambulances need a Department of Health ambulance license and permit, and anyone giving medical care on a nonemergency ambulance trip must be a Tennessee-licensed EMT. The contract does not require the plan to inspect stretcher vans or ambulances. ALS and BLS trips need a letter of medical necessity, which the member’s medical provider sends to Tennessee Carriers. UnitedHealthcare’s 2026 TennCare manual adds that the member must be bed-confined before, during, and after the trip.

How Tennessee Carriers sends trips and what TennCare expects on the road

As of September 2026, members book at least two business days ahead, and there is no limit on how far ahead they can book. Shorter notice is allowed for urgent trips, such as hospital or crisis unit discharges, facility-to-facility transfers, and same-day dialysis or behavioral health visits. For those, the pickup must happen within 3 hours of the request in urban areas and 4 hours elsewhere. See hospital discharge transportation.

The contract requires the plan to send you a manifest of newly requested trips before 5 p.m. on the same business day, by fax or secure electronic transmission, your choice. A trip assigned later comes with a phone call and an electronic message to confirm you accept it. Each manifest line shows the trip number, mode, rider, pickup time and address, appointment time and address, return time, extra stops, special needs, level of service, and whether the rider has Medicare or other coverage.

Situation	TennCare standard
Arriving early	Allowed, but the rider never has to board before the scheduled time
Waiting at pickup	Make your presence known and wait at least 5 minutes past the pickup time, then call dispatch before you leave
Rider wait	No more than 10 minutes past the scheduled pickup time
Drop-off	At least 15 minutes before the appointment, no more than 1 hour early, and never before the office opens
Will-call return	Within 1 hour of the call
Shared rides	No rider spends more than 1 hour longer than a direct trip
Running late	The driver tells dispatch, and the rider or medical office is contacted
Changing a pickup time	Only with the broker’s permission
Plan-wide on-time goal	90 percent of riders arrive no later than 15 minutes after the appointment time

A no-show is a trip where the driver arrived on time and made contact, and the rider canceled at the door or was not there 5 minutes after the pickup time. Riders are never charged for no-shows. Drivers provide the approved level of service: curb-to-curb, door-to-door, or hand-to-hand. A driver may refuse a rider who is armed, visibly intoxicated, disorderly, or a danger to others, but must call dispatch at once so it can be reported to TennCare as an incident.

After an accident or incident, the driver calls dispatch right away. The health plan must tell TennCare at once about any injury, death, or abuse, and file a written report within 5 business days with the drug and alcohol test results and the police report. Send your paperwork fast so the plan can meet that deadline.

Some rules steer trips away from vans:

• Buses first. Plans must use city buses when they work for the rider: a stop within one third of a mile, no more than one transfer each way, and no more than 60 extra minutes. Tennessee Carriers gives bus passes in the Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville transit areas.
• Mileage reimbursement. Since January 1, 2026, TennCare pays eligible members up to $0.725 a mile when they drive themselves or a neighbor, friend, or relative drives them. It pays for only one member per household per day.
• Home pickups for Wellpoint. Since July 1, 2025, Wellpoint members can be picked up only at the home address on file, with one exception a year. Wellpoint trips over 60 miles (90 for some specialists) need a medical reason and the plan’s approval.
• Riders and escorts. One escort per member, an accompanying adult for riders under 18, and any number of children if the member says so when booking. Members bring their own car seats.

How Tennessee Carriers pays

Your rates, and your pay for cancellations and no-shows, are set in your agreement with Tennessee Carriers. NEMT claims go to Tennessee Carriers, not the health plan. Wellpoint’s December 2025 provider manual says NEMT claims sent to Wellpoint for trips Tennessee Carriers did not arrange are denied, with a notice to bill Tennessee Carriers. UnitedHealthcare’s 2026 TennCare manual sends claim questions to billing@tenncarriers.com or 901-795-7055. Ambulance companies should ask each plan where to bill. That manual has ambulance companies bill a nonemergency trip Tennessee Carriers authorized as a nonemergency transport, and UnitedHealthcare’s 2026 Dual Complete manual says a company that runs both NEMT and emergency transport bills UnitedHealthcare.

TennCare’s contract sets rules that shape your pay:

Rule	What the contract says
Claim processing	90 percent of clean NEMT claims processed within 30 calendar days, and 99.5 percent processed and paid if due within 60 days
Payment accuracy	97 percent of NEMT claims paid correctly the first time
Escorts and adults with minors	No separate payment to the provider, except on public transit and commercial carriers such as intercity buses
What your agreement must cover	Payment for cancellations, no-shows, escorts, and adults riding with minors
Fuel costs	Each plan must have a fuel price adjustment policy
Validation	Each month, the plan checks 2 percent of your claims against the medical visits billed. If a trip was not to a covered service, the plan checks that member’s next three requests before approving them

Ask for the fuel adjustment, cancellation, and no-show terms in writing before you sign. See how to bill NEMT brokers.

Drivers must keep a daily log of every trip with the date, driver, VIN, rider, trip number, mode, start time from your base, scheduled and actual pickup times and places, departure and arrival times, the number of wheelchairs, escorts, and accompanying adults, and notes on any cancellation, no-show, accident, or incident. Ambulance logs add the patient assessment, care given, supplies, and vehicle class. The plan can ask for copies, so use a trip log that captures every field. Each month, the plan also sends TennCare a roster of your drivers (name, license number, and Social Security number) and your vehicles (type, make, model, year, and VIN), so tell the broker about every change.

Who to call at Tennessee Carriers

For	Contact
New provider applications	NEMTOnboarding@tenncarriers.com
Main office	(901) 795-7055, contact@tenncarriers.com
Questions and concerns (TennCare’s listing)	1-901-795-7055, ext. 8625
Claim questions	billing@tenncarriers.com
Letters of medical necessity	lmngroup@tenncarriers.com, fax (901) 339-2182
Facility and discharge portal access	portalsupport@tenncarriers.com
Mail	PO Box 771380, Memphis, TN 38177
UnitedHealthcare member rides	1-866-405-0238
Wellpoint member rides	1-866-680-0633
TennCare provider registration	1-800-852-2683, option 5, or Provider.Registration@tn.gov
NEMT concerns at TennCare and the plans	TennCare.NEMT.Support@tn.gov, NEMT@uhc.com (UnitedHealthcare), NEMT-RideSupport@wellpoint.com (Wellpoint)

Before you apply, have your TennCare Medicaid ID, NPI, county list, and vehicle counts by type ready. Ask which counties and levels of service Tennessee Carriers needs now, how it sends manifests, and how it wants your insurance certificate worded.