MedLink Transportation in Oregon: Transdev's Open Card Rides for Portland, Salem, and the North Coast (2027)

MedLink is the name on three Oregon Health Authority (OHA) ride brokerages for open card members, Oregon’s name for fee-for-service Medicaid members who are in no coordinated care organization (CCO). Transdev Health Solutions runs all three: Tri-County MedLink around Portland, Marion-Polk MedLink around Salem, and NW MedLink on the north coast. Transdev’s WellRide program for Yamhill CCO members, and its call center work for Ride to Care, are covered on the Transdev Health Solutions page. For company setup, ODOT permits, and the statewide ride rules, start with the Oregon guide.

Which MedLink line covers your county

OHA’s 2026 Open Card Member Handbook sends open card members in nine counties to a MedLink line. A rider must use the brokerage for the county where they live, unless that brokerage gives them permission to use another one (OAR 410-136-3340).

MedLink line	Counties	Ride line
Tri-County MedLink	Clackamas, Multnomah, Washington, Yamhill	866-336-2906
Marion-Polk MedLink	Marion, Polk	877-236-4026
NW MedLink	Clatsop, Columbia, Tillamook	833-585-4221

Yamhill County is the one to double check. The 2026 handbook and OHA’s form OHP 0729B (September 2023) put its open card members with Tri-County MedLink, but OHA’s ride service map, effective July 1, 2023, groups Yamhill with Marion and Polk under Marion-Polk MedLink. If your vans are based in McMinnville or Newberg, ask Transdev which line dispatches your trips before you plan routes around them.

MedLink also books rides for people covered by Oregon’s Reproductive Health Access Fund (RHAF), which pays for reproductive health care at clinics. OHA’s ride guide for RHAF enrollees lists one number, 503-776-0599, for all three MedLink lines, and puts Yamhill County with Tri-County MedLink.

Riders in the same counties who book elsewhere

CCO members in these counties never book with MedLink. OHA’s ride service map (effective July 1, 2023) sends them to their plan’s ride service:

• Portland area. Health Share of Oregon members use Ride to Care, Trillium Tri-County members use MTM Health, and Yamhill CCO members use WellRide.
• Salem area. PacificSource members use Modivcare, and Yamhill CCO members in parts of Polk County use WellRide.
• North coast. Columbia Pacific CCO members use NW Rides.

So a MedLink agreement carries no CCO riders, and a CCO agreement carries no open card riders. To reach every Oregon Health Plan (OHP) rider in Portland or Salem, you need MedLink plus each plan’s ride service. Working with several brokers covers how to run them on one schedule.

Who runs MedLink: Transdev, formerly First Transit

First Transit announced on March 27, 2015 that OHA had picked it to run Tri-County MedLink, under a four-year contract that began January 1, 2015. Transdev North America then bought First Transit’s stock, and the purchase closed on March 6, 2023. Transdev’s Oregon provider manual (January 2024) says First Transit, Inc. would continue as its own legal company, wholly owned by Transdev, and that the purchase left First Transit’s contracts with its clients as they were. When you sign, check which of the two companies your agreement names, and ask whom your insurance certificate must list as additional insured.

OHA’s own forms tie all three lines to Transdev. Form OHP 0729B, which DHS, OHA, and Oregon Youth Authority staff email to the local brokerage to order a ride to an exam the department ordered, lists the same Transdev address, us.cocc.qa@transdev.com, for Tri-County, Marion-Polk, and NW MedLink. The Tri-County MedLink number, 866-336-2906, is also the provider line on Transdev’s Oregon website.

How to get MedLink trips

Transdev’s Oregon provider pages and manual are written for WellRide, its Yamhill CCO program, so start with a call and ask whether MedLink uses the same steps:

1. Call the provider line. Transdev answers 866-336-2906, or 833-643-3010 extension 2, weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific, as of October 2026. Name the MedLink counties and vehicle types you want, and ask whether MedLink uses the same application and agreement as WellRide.
2. Send the initial application from Transdev’s Oregon join page. Transdev says it replies within a week.
3. Finish the full review. You send compliance forms, staff files, and fleet files, and the review team answers within two weeks of getting everything. The Transdev Health Solutions page lists the documents and insurance limits Transdev asks for in Oregon. The open card rule adds workers’ compensation for any employees, unless Oregon law exempts you, and proof of your liability coverage for OHA on request (OAR 410-136-3060).
4. Agree a base rate for each vehicle type. Oregon’s open card rules leave that number to you and the brokerage (OAR 410-136-3220). See how to negotiate broker rates.
5. Train drivers to the open card rule. Each driver needs a valid Oregon DMV license for the vehicle and a criminal background check at hire. Defensive driving, First Aid, CPR, blood spill, and the Passenger Service and Safety course follow within six months (OAR 410-136-3040, effective January 1, 2025). A driver who holds only a Washington license cannot carry MedLink trips, even inside Portland.
6. Get city permits for Portland pickups. The city licenses NEMT companies, vehicles, and drivers; see Portland NEMT permits.
7. Set up your books. Each brokerage must require its subcontractors to account for NEMT costs separately from all their other work, using generally accepted accounting principles (OAR 410-136-3200). MedLink may also ask for records that support the costs it reports to OHA (OAR 410-136-3220). See NEMT bookkeeping.

How MedLink assigns and checks trips

Open card rides need the brokerage’s approval before they happen (OAR 410-136-3020), with one after-hours exception below; see prior authorization. Before MedLink sends a vehicle, it checks whether the rider can drive their own car or get a ride from a friend, family member, or neighbor (OAR 410-136-3020). A rider who drives, or whose friend drives, can be paid back $0.49 a mile under the 2026 handbook, and NEMT may give a bus pass instead of a car ride, so some open card trips never reach a transportation company.

OAR 410-136-3020 tells the brokerage to weigh cost, the rider’s equipment needs, each company’s capabilities, availability, and past performance, and its own need to keep enough capacity to meet rider needs. OHA’s NEMT Brokerage Operations Manual (August 2024) adds the order: choose the vehicle type first, then the least costly company available for that type. A rider asking for your company does not by itself make a trip payable to you.

What to expect day to day:

• Shared rides. MedLink may require open card riders to share a ride, but never RHAF riders (OAR 410-136-3020). See NEMT multiloading for how other payers handle it.
• Short notice. The manual tells brokerages to make every reasonable effort to arrange same-day rides, even on one hour’s notice. Tell MedLink when you have open vans.
• After hours. When MedLink’s call center is closed, its recording must refer riders straight to a transportation company. If you carry an urgent care trip, a secure transport, or a hospital discharge while it is closed, MedLink approves it after the fact when the request reaches it within 30 days. See after-hours NEMT and hospital discharge rides.
• Rider timing. The 2026 handbook tells riders to cancel at least two hours before pickup, that the driver waits up to 15 minutes past the pickup time, and that the driver drops them off at least 15 minutes before the appointment.
• Checks. Each brokerage confirms at least 5 percent of ride requests with the medical office. When an office says a rider had no visit, the manual has the brokerage ask you whether the trip happened as billed, so keep each ride approval for at least three years.

What MedLink pays and where its money comes from

OHA pays each open card brokerage a fixed rate per ride: its direct costs (transportation plus administration) and indirect costs, divided by its projected monthly rides (OAR 410-136-3200, effective January 1, 2025). OHA reviews that rate every quarter, and also when a program change or another factor moves the brokerage’s costs. After each fiscal year, the brokerage reports its costs to OHA, certified by a CPA, and refunds any overpayment OHA finds within 60 days.

For you, that means two things. Your pay is one of the costs MedLink reports and OHA settles, so the base rate is a number you negotiate, not a state fee schedule. And the manual lets you or the brokerage propose a rate change between your contract’s regular review dates, and lets the brokerage negotiate a different cost for an unusual trip, such as one that needs special equipment or several attendants. Each bill is compared with MedLink’s estimate for the trip, and bills outside its range get questioned before payment.

Pay rules for each trip

OAR 410-136-3220 (amended effective January 1, 2024) sets these rules for every open card brokerage, and the OHA manual adds the no-show rule:

Situation	What you are paid
First rider, or the rider who needs the costliest vehicle type	Full base rate for that vehicle type
Each added rider on the same trip	Half the base rate for the type that rider needs
Miles on a shared ride	Actual miles only, from first pickup to final drop-off
Walking rider carried in a wheelchair or stretcher vehicle	The walking (ambulatory) base rate
Rider in a reclining wheelchair	The wheelchair base rate
Waiting for the rider, or helping them in or out	Nothing
Rider not at the pickup (a no-show)	Nothing

The brokerage may pay waiting time in three cases: a rider on your stretcher who cannot move to the facility’s, a rider who is nauseous or vomiting after dialysis or chemotherapy, and a stop for prescription medicine or medical supplies tied to the visit. If you deliver a rider and the clinic had canceled the visit without telling the rider or you, the brokerage still pays the trip. Medicaid’s payment is payment in full, so you may not ask riders for tips or donations, or bill them for a no-show.

What changes for MedLink in January 2027

Open card is a small group today. OHA’s enrollment report counted about 99,300 open card members statewide in August 2026, about one OHP member in fourteen, down from about 170,200 in October 2021. OHA’s notice, updated August 7, 2026, says all Healthier Oregon members move to open card in January 2027 because of federal changes, and OHA’s June 2026 board materials say they leave CCOs to do it. Healthier Oregon gives full OHP benefits regardless of immigration status, and OHA’s federal changes page (updated September 18, 2026) says about 7,000 more members move into it in October 2026.

Open card members book with the brokerage for their county (OAR 410-136-3000 and 3340), so in the nine MedLink counties those riders leave Ride to Care, MTM Health, WellRide, Modivcare, and NW Rides and book with MedLink. If you drive them today through a CCO ride service, a MedLink agreement is how you keep them. Two steps for the fall of 2026:

1. Ask Transdev where MedLink needs companies before the January 2027 move, and for which vehicle types.
2. Start the review early. On Transdev’s Oregon application, the first answer can take a week, and the full review up to two more weeks after your files are complete.

Who to call

• Transdev Oregon provider line: 866-336-2906, or 833-643-3010 extension 2, weekdays 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific.
• Transdev Oregon email and fax: us.transdevhealthsolutions@transdev.com, fax 800-862-3014.
• MedLink address on OHA’s exam ride form: us.cocc.qa@transdev.com.
• RHAF rides on any MedLink line: 503-776-0599.
• WellRide, for Yamhill CCO members: 844-256-5720.
• OHP Client Services, for riders with a ride problem: 800-273-0557.