Brokers and Medicaid
What Is a Coordinated Care Organization (CCO)? How Oregon Health Plan Rides Work
A coordinated care organization (CCO) is a local health plan that the Oregon Health Authority pays a fixed global budget to care for Oregon Health Plan members, including their non-emergency medical transportation. Each CCO must provide all rides for its members, usually through a ride service it contracts with, also called a brokerage. A ride company gets CCO trips by contracting with that ride service.
- A CCO is Oregon's version of a Medicaid health plan, paid a fixed global budget, and CMS counts CCOs as comprehensive managed care plans.
- Every CCO must provide all NEMT for its members, and most hand the rides to a ride service that contracts with local transportation companies.
- Oregon Health Plan members who are not in a CCO use open card brokerages, one per group of counties.
- To get CCO trips, contract with the CCO's ride service and enroll with OHA as a fee-for-service or encounter-only provider.
- In January 2027, all Healthier Oregon members move from CCOs to OHP Open Card, so their rides move to the open card brokerages.
Oregon runs most of its Medicaid program through coordinated care organizations, regional health plans that answer to the Oregon Health Authority. For a ride company in Oregon, the CCO decides who sends your trips, and in most areas that is a ride service you contract with directly.
What a coordinated care organization is
Oregon law defines a CCO as an organization that meets the criteria the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) adopts under ORS 414.572. Those criteria require each CCO to:
- Show it can manage financial risk and keep reserves.
- Operate within a fixed global budget, the total amount OHA sets in advance for the care of the CCO’s members (ORS 414.025).
- Coordinate physical health, behavioral health, oral health, and covered long-term care.
- Engage community members and health care providers in improving the community’s health.
A CCO can be one corporation or a network of providers tied together by contracts, and it may contract with counties or other public or private groups to deliver services. OHA may not contract with only one statewide CCO. As of September 2026, OHA’s CCO contact list names 15 CCOs.
In federal terms, a CCO is a Medicaid managed care organization. CMS’s 2024 report lists each one as a comprehensive managed care plan, and counted 1,309,000 of Oregon’s 1,340,084 Medicaid enrollees in them on July 1, 2024. Members who are not in a CCO are “open card” members, Oregon’s name for fee-for-service Medicaid.
How CCOs cover rides
OAR 410-141-3920, amended effective July 1, 2026, requires every CCO to provide all non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) for its members. The same rule sets what the CCO and its ride service must do:
| Rule | What it says |
|---|---|
| Call center | A toll-free line open at least Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The CCO may subcontract it but stays accountable for the work. |
| Booking | Members can book up to 90 days ahead, book recurring rides all at once, and ask for same-day rides |
| Drop-off and pickup | No drop-off more than 15 minutes before the office opens, and no pickup more than 15 minutes after it closes, unless the member asks or the visit runs late |
| Notice to the member | Ride details at least 48 hours ahead, less when the request comes in late |
| Denials | A second review by another staff member, word to the member by their preferred contact method, and a mailed notice within 72 hours |
| Billing members | Never allowed, even when the ride service denied payment |
| Not covered | Unscheduled trips to an emergency room, including from urgent care, and rides for health-related social needs services |
Driver and vehicle standards come from OAR 410-141-3925, last amended effective January 1, 2022. Before hiring a driver, the CCO requires a valid license of the right class, a clear check against the federal OIG exclusion list, and a criminal background check. Drivers must disclose any state drug law violation and their driving history. They complete First Aid, CPR, and blood spill training before driving any member. Within three months of hire, and every three years after, they finish a National Safety Council defensive driving course and the Passenger Service and Safety course, or equivalents.
Rides can leave the CCO’s area when the covered service is not available there. They can cross into a neighboring state when the care is next to the CCO’s area and no more than 75 miles from the Oregon border (OAR 410-141-3930). See rural NEMT for long trips.
Ride services for each CCO area
OHA’s CCO contact list names these ride services as of September 2026.
| CCO | Service area | Ride service |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced Health | Coos and Curry | Bay Cities Brokerage |
| AllCare CCO | Curry, Josephine, Jackson, part of Douglas | ReadyRide |
| Cascade Health Alliance | Parts of Klamath | TransLink |
| Columbia Pacific CCO | Clatsop, Columbia, Tillamook | NW Rides |
| Eastern Oregon CCO | Baker, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Wheeler | GOBHI Transportation Services |
| Health Share of Oregon | Clackamas, Multnomah, Washington | Ride to Care |
| InterCommunity Health Network | Benton, Lincoln, Linn | Cascades West Ride Line |
| Jackson Care Connect | Jackson | TransLink |
| PacificSource, Central Oregon | Deschutes, Crook, Jefferson, part of Klamath | Modivcare (see note) |
| PacificSource, Columbia Gorge | Hood River, Wasco | Modivcare |
| PacificSource, Marion/Polk | Marion, Polk | Modivcare |
| Trillium Southwest | Lane, western Linn and Douglas | RideSource |
| Trillium Tri-County | Clackamas, Multnomah, Washington | MTM Health |
| Umpqua Health Alliance | Most of Douglas | Bay Cities Brokerage |
| Yamhill Community Care | Yamhill, parts of Washington and Polk | Well Ride |
Note: PacificSource’s own ride page tells Central Oregon members in Crook, Deschutes, Jefferson, and Klamath counties to call Modivcare, while OHA’s contact list shows RideSource for that CCO. Ask PacificSource which one sends trips before you apply.
Two CCOs can share a county. Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington counties have both Health Share of Oregon and Trillium Tri-County, so a Portland-area company can hold agreements with Ride to Care and MTM Health at once.
Open card members use county brokerages
OHP members who are not in a CCO book rides with the open card brokerage for their county. The 2026 Open Card member handbook lists them:
| Counties | Open card brokerage |
|---|---|
| Crook, Deschutes, Jefferson | Cascades East Transit (Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council) |
| Clatsop, Columbia, Tillamook | NW MedLink |
| Lane | RideSource |
| Coos, Curry, Douglas, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath, Lake | TransLink |
| Clackamas, Multnomah, Washington, Yamhill | Tri-County MedLink |
| Benton, Lincoln, Linn | Cascades West Ride Line |
| Marion, Polk | Marion-Polk MedLink |
| Baker, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Hood River, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Wasco, Wheeler | GOBHI Transportation Services |
Members move between the two sides. OHA’s notice updated August 7, 2026 says all Healthier Oregon members, who get full OHP benefits regardless of immigration status, move from CCOs to Open Card in January 2027. If you serve a CCO ride service, check whether you also hold an agreement with the open card brokerage for your counties, or those riders’ trips go elsewhere.
How to get CCO trips as a ride company
- List the ride services in your counties. Use the two tables above, and note where one company runs both the CCO rides and the open card rides, such as GOBHI in eastern Oregon.
- Call each ride service’s provider team. Ask whether it is adding transportation companies, and which service levels and areas it needs. The CCO does not have to take every company, but federal managed care rules make a plan tell you in writing why it declined you.
- Pass credentialing. Expect to show your insurance, vehicles, and driver files against the OAR 410-141-3925 standards. See NEMT broker credentialing.
- Enroll with OHA. Under OAR 410-141-3565, a provider must be enrolled with OHA as a fee-for-service or encounter-only provider before its encounter data is accepted. CCOs enroll their providers on form OHP 3108 (January 2025), which lists “Transportation Provider” as provider type 1 and asks for your NPI. See how to get an NPI number.
- Invoice on time. The same billing rule gives providers 120 days from the date of service to submit initial claims for CCO members, and lets the CCO negotiate terms within that window. Your ride service’s agreement sets its own invoice schedule.
- Plan to keep trip records for 10 years. OAR 410-141-3920 treats transportation providers as participating providers for record keeping, and OAR 410-141-3520 requires clinical records across a CCO’s network to be kept at least 10 years after the date of service. See NEMT record retention.
Our Oregon guide covers licenses, insurance, and each ride service’s application in more depth.
Frequently asked questions
Is a coordinated care organization the same as a Medicaid managed care organization?
In federal terms, yes. CMS's 2024 managed care report lists each Oregon CCO as a comprehensive managed care plan. Oregon law adds its own requirements on top: a CCO must work within a fixed global budget, coordinate physical, behavioral, oral health, and covered long-term care, and engage its community in improving health (ORS 414.572).
Do I contract with the CCO or with its ride service?
Usually the ride service. Each CCO names one on OHA's CCO contact list, such as Ride to Care for Health Share of Oregon or Bay Cities Brokerage for Advanced Health. The ride service credentials transportation companies, sends them trips, and pays them. The CCO stays fully accountable to OHA for the rides it subcontracts.
Can a CCO ride company charge the rider for a trip?
No. Under OAR 410-141-3920 (amended effective July 1, 2026), neither a CCO nor any transportation provider it subcontracts may bill a member for rides to or from covered services, even when the CCO or the ride service denied payment for the trip.
How far can a CCO ride go?
Outside the CCO's area when the covered service is not available there, and outside Oregon when the care is in a place next to the CCO's area and no more than 75 miles from the Oregon border, or when the service is not available in Oregon at all (OAR 410-141-3930, effective January 1, 2020).
What happens to Healthier Oregon members' rides in 2027?
OHA's notice updated August 7, 2026 says all Healthier Oregon members move from CCOs to OHP Open Card in January 2027 because of federal changes. Their rides then go through the open card brokerage for their county instead of the CCO's ride service.