What Is a Certificate of Insurance (COI)? What NEMT Brokers Check on It

What a certificate of insurance shows

A certificate of insurance puts your coverage on one page so a broker, health plan, city, or facility can see it without reading your policies. Many NEMT programs ask for an ACORD form, and the one for liability coverage is the ACORD 25, Certificate of Liability Insurance. Arizona health plans accept a valid ACORD form or an approved equivalent, CareOregon’s manual lists an insurance card or ACORD certificate among each vehicle’s documents, and LCP Transportation in Indiana asks for the ACORD certificate by name.

Here is what each part of the ACORD 25 shows, in the 2016/03 edition the Texas Department of Insurance approved on May 14, 2015, and what a NEMT broker looks for there.

Part of the form	What it shows	What a broker checks
Producer	Your insurance agency and its contact	Who to call. WellTrans’s agreement lets it contact your agent directly.
Insured	Your company’s name and address	That it matches your legal name. Verida checks the name and address, and New Jersey requires your trade name.
Insurers affording coverage	Each insurance company and its NAIC number	The insurer’s rating, such as A- or better for Verida and WellTrans
Type of insurance, policy number, and dates	General liability, auto, umbrella, and workers’ compensation, each with its effective and expiration dates	That every required policy is there and in force
Limits	Each occurrence, aggregate, and combined single limit amounts	That each limit meets the contract, such as MTM Health’s $2 million for general and auto liability in Missouri
Additional insured and subrogation waived columns	A mark when the policy is endorsed for the holder	That the broker is an additional insured where the contract requires it
Automobile liability boxes	Any auto, owned, scheduled, hired, or non-owned autos	That the auto symbols match the contract
Description of operations, locations, vehicles	Free text, with a remarks page if more room is needed	Required wording, the vehicle list, and contract numbers
Certificate holder	Who the certificate is issued to	The broker’s exact name and address
Cancellation	That notice will be delivered in accordance with the policy provisions	A separate notice of cancellation endorsement

The form spells out what it cannot do. It says the certificate “is issued as a matter of information only and confers no rights upon the certificate holder.” It does not amend, extend, or alter the coverage, and the limits shown “may have been reduced by paid claims.” The policy controls. That is why some programs also want the policy itself: MediTrans asks for your insurance declarations page, and Louisiana health plans get a copy of the policy.

Who issues a certificate of insurance

Your insurance agent or your insurer issues it. You ask, and the agent sends a certificate made out to each holder. Never type or edit one yourself.

States police what goes on a certificate:

• Texas. For a risk located in Texas, only a certificate form filed with and approved by the Texas Department of Insurance may be used. It may say nothing the policy does not, and it may not refer to insurance requirements in a contract other than the policy. An agent needs an appointment with the insurer that issues the policy to deliver one. Supplemental questionnaires and affidavits are not allowed. Civil penalties reach $1,000 per infraction and can apply to certificate holders as well as agents and insurers (FAQ last updated October 31, 2022).
• New York. Insurance Law 502 says a certificate may not amend, extend, or alter the policy’s coverage. No one may willfully require a certificate to include terms or guarantees the policy does not expressly contain. A certificate demanded before a contract, work, or payment must be on the insurer’s own form or a form New York’s superintendent of financial services approved.

A certificate is also not a state insurance filing. Wyoming, for example, does not accept ACORD certificates, binders, or insurance cards for intrastate operating authority. It takes its own filing forms instead, such as Form E for liability, completed by an insurance broker, underwriter, or authorized company representative.

What NEMT brokers check on your certificate

Each broker writes its own list, and the lists differ. These are the requirements as of September 2026, with the date of each document:

Broker or program	What it checks
Verida, Georgia provider page	Your correct name and address, insurers rated A- or better, the vehicles on the auto policy, the general liability policy number with $1 million sexual abuse and molestation coverage and a $2 million aggregate, and the auto policy number with “All Owned, Hired, and Non-Owned” coverage, each with effective and expiration dates
MTM Health, standard agreement (January 1, 2023 version Pennsylvania posts) and state pages	MTM as certificate holder and additional insured, and copies of the notice of cancellation endorsements. A scheduled auto policy must list every vehicle.
MediTrans, Louisiana provider page	MediTrans as certificate holder on all policies, with the certificate emailed to its documents inbox. MediTrans offers a sample certificate in the format it wants.
Louisiana Medicaid health plans (MCO manual updated May 28, 2026)	A statement that the coverage is for a Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Vehicle, auto symbol 1 or symbols 7, 8, and 9 or 2, 8, and 9, and the Louisiana Department of Health as additional insured on auto and general liability
WellTrans, Indiana (agreement revised October 16, 2025)	Your business described as “for hire transportation,” general liability that covers contractual liability and sexual abuse and molestation, and auto coverage for “Any Auto” or symbols 2, 8, and 9. Professional liability must be clearly shown for wheelchair van providers.
LCP Transportation, Indiana (July 2026 checklist)	LCP as additional insured, and a set sentence in the description box stating that LCP is an additional insured and that 30 days’ notice of cancellation will be given for any reason, including nonpayment
Arizona health plan subcontractors (AHCCCS rules effective October 1, 2024, revised January 9, 2025)	A signature by an authorized representative of the insurer, the AHCCCS subcontract number and project description, and, for providers serving children or vulnerable adults, “Sexual Abuse and Molestation coverage is included” or “is not excluded”
American Logistics, provider FAQs	At least a $500,000 combined single limit from an insurer rated B or better with no livery exclusion, and “Any Auto” or owned, hired, and non-owned autos. It does not accept scheduled autos policies.
New Jersey mobility assistance vehicle providers (N.J.A.C. 8:40-3.3, readopted September 25, 2023)	An official certificate from the carrier or agent, your trade name as an insured, the VIN of each vehicle if vans are insured as scheduled autos, and the Department of Health as certificate holder
Paratransit Services, Washington (requirements file updated April 2024)	Coverage and limits as the contract sets them, with an inventory of every covered vehicle

Give your agent the broker’s list before the agent drafts the certificate. For the limits behind each line, see NEMT insurance requirements and combined single limit.

Certificate holder, additional insured, and notice

These three get mixed up more than anything else on the form.

• Certificate holder is simply the party the certificate is addressed to. The form says it gets no rights.
• Additional insured is coverage under your policy, and only an endorsement creates it. The ACORD 25 warns that a statement on the certificate does not confer rights in place of the endorsement.
• Notice of cancellation is not promised by the certificate. Texas Insurance Code 1811.155, quoted in the state’s FAQ, gives a right to notice only to a person named in the policy or an endorsement, when the policy or a law requires it.

So when a contract asks for notice, the policy needs an endorsement. MTM Health’s agreement requires notice of cancellation endorsements, with copies at signing and at each renewal. Arizona health plans, Louisiana health plans, WellTrans, and Portland’s NEMT permit rules ask for 30 days’ notice. Paratransit Services asks for 45 days’ notice by certified mail, and it wants to hear from you within one business day after you receive any cancellation or nonrenewal notice.

Renewal dates that put your trips on hold

A certificate goes stale the day its policies expire, even when you renewed on time. Brokers track those dates and act on them.

Broker or program	When a new certificate is due	What a gap costs
MTM Health, standard agreement (January 1, 2023)	At signing and at each renewal	Failing to keep insurance ends the agreement immediately
MTM Health, Rhode Island handbook (updated July 1, 2026)	Every required company, vehicle, and driver credential, uploaded 10 business days before it expires	If one is not in 5 days before, trips tied to that company, vehicle, or driver may come off the manifest on the expiration date. Late approvals go through a sanction review first.
MTM Health, Virginia handbook (approved August 10, 2026)	MTM tracks each vehicle’s insurance expiration date	Out-of-date documents lead to fewer trips, a performance improvement plan, or nonrenewal
WellTrans, Indiana (October 16, 2025)	Before the agreement’s effective date, then immediately after any renewal or change	No certificate by the effective date voids the agreement. Vehicles not on your insurance cost $100 per vehicle per day.
CareOregon brokerages (manual version 1.3, February 2024)	Before service, at each renewal, and after any change	Brokerages may stop assigning trips, remove trips scheduled during the gap, and move to suspension if it is not fixed
Arizona health plan subcontractors (AHCCCS, effective October 1, 2024)	Evidence of renewal, with coverage in force before work starts	Failing to provide evidence of renewal is a material breach
Louisiana Medicaid health plans (May 28, 2026)	A certificate and registration for each new vehicle, and an updated policy showing it, before it carries riders	The plan or the state may recoup payment for every trip run without the minimum coverage
New Jersey mobility assistance vehicle providers (N.J.A.C. 8:40-3.3, readopted September 25, 2023)	Insurance details at each provider and vehicle relicensure	All service stops the moment required coverage is canceled or expires

To keep trips flowing through a renewal:

1. List every holder. Write down each broker, plan, city, and facility that has your certificate, and each policy’s expiration date.
2. Start early. Ask your agent for the renewal quote well before the expiration date, so the new policy is bound in time to meet the earliest deadline, such as MTM Rhode Island’s 10 business days.
3. Order one certificate per holder. Give the agent each holder’s name, address, and required wording.
4. Upload and confirm. Send each certificate through the broker’s portal or inbox, then check that it shows as approved.
5. Update for every van. Send a new certificate when you add a vehicle, and tell MTM Health immediately about additions and removals on a scheduled policy.

Track these dates with the rest of your file in the NEMT credentialing checklist. For everything else brokers re-check on a schedule, see NEMT recredentialing.