Medicaid Payer ID: Where It Goes on a NEMT Claim and How to Find the Right One

What a payer ID is

A payer ID is the code that names the payer on an electronic claim. Your billing system or clearinghouse reads it to decide where the claim goes, and the payer reads it to confirm the claim is meant for it. On a NEMT claim the payer is usually a state Medicaid program, a Medicaid health plan, or a broker that takes claim files.

There is no national payer number. HHS adopted a national Health Plan Identifier in 2012, then rescinded it in a final rule published October 28, 2019 (84 FR 57621), effective December 27, 2019. In that rule, HHS describes payer IDs as identifiers the industry built on its own, outside HIPAA, that already route claims and name the entity financially responsible for paying them. So each payer picks its own ID and prints it in its companion guide or on its claims page.

Two IDs often travel together:

• The receiver ID names who receives the file. It sits in the file envelope and in loop 1000B.
• The payer ID names who owes the claim. It sits in loop 2010BB, the payer name loop, with the payer’s name.

For a state’s fee-for-service program the two are often the same. They can differ. Iowa’s manual for a separate state safety net program (version 7.0, August 1, 2026) has providers use payer ID 18049, which it says is the same as the Medicaid payer ID, with a different receiver ID, 0028, so the state can tell the two programs’ claims apart.

Where the payer ID goes in the 837P

The 837P is the electronic version of the paper CMS-1500. Each state’s companion guide tells you exactly what to put in the receiver and payer loops. Copy the values exactly, including any dash.

Program and guide date	Receiver ID	Payer ID in loop 2010BB
Illinois Medicaid (November 2021)	37-1320188 in loop 1000B	37-1320188
Arizona AHCCCS (November 2022)	866004791 in loop 1000B, AHCCCS866004791 in the envelope	866004791
Indiana IHCP (November 2024)	IHCP in the envelope	IHCP

New York’s guide (version 5.2.1, July 7, 2026) asks for NYSDOH and 141797357 in loop 1000B, and EMEDNYBAT as the receiver of every batch 837 file. Use a state’s IDs only for trips the state pays you for itself, such as fee-for-service trips in Illinois and Arizona and the trips Medical Answering Services assigns in New York.

The paper claim works differently. The CMS-1500 has no payer ID box. The NUCC manual (version 13.0, July 2025) has you write the payer’s name and claims address in the carrier block, and the NUCC map (version 3.3, August 2018) ties that block to the payer name and address in loop 2010BB.

How to find the right payer ID for each payer

1. State fee-for-service. Open the state’s 837P companion guide on its Medicaid or fiscal agent site, and use the values in its receiver and payer loops. For how each state runs rides and claims, see your state guide, such as Illinois or Arizona.
2. Each health plan that pays you. Look on the plan’s electronic transactions or claims page. As of October 2026, IEHP in California, which books its own wheelchair and gurney rides, lists IEHP1 for Medi-Cal and IEHP DualChoice members. Check first that the plan pays rides itself. Sunshine Health in Florida lists payer ID 68069, but its transportation billing guide sends claims for non-emergency rides to its ride vendor and only emergency rides to the plan.
3. Each product within a plan. One plan can use different IDs for different products or transaction types. IEHP uses IECCA, not IEHP1, for IEHP Covered members. Aetna Better Health of Florida’s June 17, 2025 bulletin lists 128FL for electronic claims and ABHFL as its real-time payer ID.
4. Your clearinghouse’s list. Give the plan’s ID to your clearinghouse and ask it to confirm the match in its own payer list before your first file.
5. Your trading partner setup. Many state programs enroll you or your clearinghouse first. See trading partner agreement and how to submit NEMT claims electronically.

A payer ID does not always point to one plan. Superior HealthPlan in Texas uses 68069 for medical claims on every product it lists, including STAR, STAR+PLUS, and STAR Kids, the same number Sunshine Health uses in Florida. Both plans’ electronic claims are handled by the same parent company. The rider’s member ID, name, and plan still have to match the payer’s records, so check eligibility before you bill.

A billing example: an Arizona fee-for-service trip

Arizona pays some rides itself. AHCCCS’s transportation chapter (revised July 31, 2026) covers rides for members of its American Indian Health Program through its fee-for-service division, so a registered company bills AHCCCS for them directly. Say your wheelchair van takes one of those members to dialysis and back on the same day.

The AHCCCS 837 companion guide (version 4.0, November 2022) sets every ID in the file:

1. The envelope. AHCCCS866004791 as the interchange receiver (ISA08) and the application receiver (GS03).
2. Loop 1000B. AHCCCS as the receiver name and 866004791 as its ID.
3. Loop 2010BB. AHCCCS as the payer name and 866004791 as the payer ID. A company that bills without an NPI also sends its AHCCCS provider ID in this loop, in a REF segment.
4. The claim itself. Both legs go on one claim, with the trips on the first line and the loaded miles on the second, and the AHCCCS Daily Trip Report must go with it, or the claim is denied. The 837P page covers the pickup and drop-off addresses AHCCCS wants in the claim note.

AHCCCS must receive the claim within 6 months of the date of service, under its general billing rules (revised November 3, 2025). For registration and rates, see Arizona. If you are deciding whether to bill with an NPI, see NPI type 1 vs type 2.

Crossover and secondary claims

When another payer pays first, the payer ID can change.

• Medicare first. Indiana’s guide (version 4.2, November 2024) says claims sent to Medicare that should cross over to Indiana Medicaid must carry 70035, the payer ID Medicare assigned to the IHCP. Inside Indiana’s own files, the same program is simply IHCP. This matters mostly to ambulance companies, because Original Medicare pays for ambulance rides, not van rides.
• Another plan first. Aetna Better Health of Florida’s June 17, 2025 bulletin says that when the plan is primary, NEMT claims go to Modivcare, its transportation vendor, under Modivcare’s authorization rules. When another payer is primary, you bill that payer first, then send the secondary claim to the plan with the remittance advice, using 128FL. If Medicare is primary, the claim crosses over on its own.

See third party liability for who pays first.

Broker trips: when no payer ID is needed

Many NEMT companies never type a payer ID, because their broker takes claims in its own portal. MTM Health’s Rhode Island handbook (last updated July 1, 2026) has you claim each completed trip in MTM’s portal by its trip ID within 90 days of the ride, one at a time or in a batch on MTM’s spreadsheet. For each broker’s method, see how to bill NEMT brokers.

New York works the other way. Medical Answering Services assigns and approves the trips, but you bill eMedNY with the trip’s prior authorization number, so your 837P carries the eMedNY IDs above. A payer ID also matters when a broker or plan takes 837P files. Ask for its companion guide and test the setup before you send real claims.

What a wrong payer ID does

A claim with the wrong payer ID either fails to route or reaches a payer that does not owe it. On a claim acknowledgment, the X12 claim status code for this problem is 116, “Claim submitted to incorrect payer.” A payer that processes the claim anyway can deny it with reason code 109, which says to send the claim to the correct payer.

Either way, the right payer has not received your claim, and its filing deadline keeps running. Read your acknowledgments every day you send claims, fix the ID, and resend. See claim rejection vs denial for how to tell the two apart, and timely filing limit for the deadlines.