NEMT Broker Trip Imports in 2027: Get Broker Trips into Your Schedule Without Retyping

Retyping broker trips takes office hours you do not have, and every retyped trip is a chance to send a van to the wrong door at the wrong time. Many brokers can send trips straight into your own scheduling software or let you download them as a file. This guide covers each way trips leave a broker’s system, what to check on every import, and how to keep addresses and times right.

How broker trips reach your schedule

Brokers hand off trips in four ways, and many offer more than one:

How trips arrive	How it works	Examples
Live connection (API)	The broker’s system sends each assigned trip into your scheduling software. Your software sends GPS, trip events, and signatures back.	MTM Health makes manifests available in its MTM Link portal and by API to your routing software (Virginia handbook, approved August 10, 2026, for trips from October 1, 2026). Modivcare says its platform connects with a wide variety of dispatch systems.
Spreadsheet download	You download trips from the broker’s portal as an Excel or CSV file and import it	MTM Health’s Rhode Island portal exports all trips, or only changed trips, for a date range (handbook, last updated July 1, 2026). WellTrans in Indiana lets you download manifests as CSV files for your own system (manual revised February 17, 2023).
The broker’s own portal or app	You view, accept, and update trips in the broker’s system, with nothing to import	MediTrans in Louisiana has you accept offers, see your daily and weekly schedule, and mark each trip en route, arrived, and completed in its portal (September 2026)
Fax, email, secure website, or phone	The broker sends a daily manifest, and you confirm you received it	WellTrans sends trip reservations each day by fax or secure website, and same-day, urgent, and hospital discharge trips by phone (agreement revised October 16, 2025). TennCare requires plans to send manifests by fax or secure electronic transmission, as the provider chooses.

Prior approval programs work differently. Transdev runs Illinois Medicaid’s prior approval program for these rides, and its PassPORT portal shows the approved, denied, and pending requests assigned to your Medicaid ID, searched one calendar week at a time (user manual, March 2026).

MTM Health’s Rhode Island handbook shows how the methods fit together. It says providers should receive trips by API, and use the Trip Export feature for reports, backups, or when they have no API connection. How a broker picks your company for a trip in the first place is covered in NEMT broker trip offers.

When manifests arrive

Timing sets your import schedule. TennCare’s contract with its health plans (Amendment 25, July 1, 2026) requires the plan to send each provider a manifest of all newly requested trips before 5 p.m. the same business day. A trip assigned after that comes with a phone call and an electronic message to confirm you will take it. MTM Health in Virginia sends trips to providers 7 days before the appointment, and standing order trips already set to a designated provider are assigned to that provider automatically. WellTrans providers on fax or email manifests may get a revised manifest, with new trips and changes, 24 hours before the date of service.

Live connections: trips straight into your software

A live connection works in both directions. Trips flow into your software, and your software sends the broker what it needs back. MTM Health’s standard agreement, in the January 1, 2023 version Pennsylvania posts, requires each vehicle’s device to send its location, trip events, and member signatures in real time. Outside software must send that data to MTM through an API (section 4.B).

The broker controls the connection, not your vendor:

• MTM Health. MTM first reviews whether the software meets its GPS rules, and it can refuse to set up the connection. If GPS data stops reaching MTM, you can face suspended trips, liquidated damages, or termination. MTM’s Virginia handbook says it works with over 20 outside applications.
• Medical Answering Services, New York. A routing or billing company must register with MAS, get a data key for each client, and follow its business associate agreement with MAS (network manual, October 1, 2023). Since November 10, 2025, GPS data must reach MAS by API within 30 minutes of collection, or you cannot attest to the trip (MAS letter, September 11, 2025).
• Georgia. Each broker’s service agreement with providers must cover its computer requirements and how driver manifests are delivered (DCH NEMT manual, section 701.1.9, version dated July 1, 2026). Read those sections before you pick software.
• Modivcare. It offers its own dispatch software at no or reduced cost for Modivcare trips, and says its platform connects with other dispatch systems, as of September 2026.

What goes back to the broker

The return trip matters as much as the import. MAS’s September 11, 2025 letter spells out what each GPS point must carry: the leg ID, vehicle ID, driver ID, latitude, longitude, speed, time collected, accuracy in meters, and a milestone. Traveling to the pickup, arriving at the pickup, traveling with the rider, and arriving at the drop-off each need points every 30 to 60 seconds, followed by one point that completes the leg. MAS uses the first point with the rider on board as the pickup time and place, and the completing point as the drop-off. A point counts only once the MAS system answers that it was received, and the software sending it must deal with any point MAS does not accept. Since December 23, 2025, MAS turns away any point that arrives more than 30 minutes after it was collected, and that point does not count toward the trip.

A vendor that sends only start and end points, or drops points MAS turns away, will not meet a rule like that. For how brokers use this data, see NEMT GPS tracking. Before you rely on a connection, ask the broker and your vendor:

1. Which trip fields come through, and which do not?
2. How fast do changes and cancellations arrive?
3. Which statuses go back to the broker: en route, arrived, picked up, dropped off, no-show?
4. Do signatures and the full GPS trail go back, or only start and end points?
5. What happens when the connection drops or the broker rejects a GPS point, and who do I call?

If you are comparing vendors, see how to choose NEMT software. If you are moving to a new system, see how to switch NEMT software.

Spreadsheet downloads, step by step

When there is no live connection, a portal download still beats retyping. MTM Health’s Rhode Island portal is a good model of how exports work:

1. Build an export template once. Pick the columns you need. They appear in the same order each time you run the export.
2. Choose the report type. Trips lists every trip in the date range. Trip Changes lists only the trips that changed in that range.
3. Set the date range and file type. Choose Excel or CSV, and give each file a unique name, as the portal requires.
4. Download to a secured office computer. The file holds rider health information, so keep it off personal email and shared drives.
5. Import and match on the trip ID. A second import of the same trip should update it, not add a copy.
6. Compare counts with the portal. Check the number of trips for each day in your schedule against the broker’s portal.
7. Pull Trip Changes again before you finish tomorrow’s schedule, and again before the first pickup.
8. Keep one secure copy. Store the file in an encrypted folder if you keep it as a backup, and delete stray copies from downloads and email.

MTM also tells providers to check with their routing software company before changing exports, so the change does not disrupt service. If you use both an API and exports, set up the export so it never overwrites what the connection sends.

WellTrans in Indiana works the same way in both directions. You download the schedule as a CSV file, and you upload completed trips on the template WellTrans gives you in training. Its manual says building and keeping up the upload into your own system is your job, and WellTrans supplies only the download.

If your broker only sends a daily manifest, the work is keeping it current. WellTrans’s Indiana agreement requires you to confirm receipt of each day’s reservations in a form it accepts. It also sets $100 in liquidated damages each time your fax line is down for an hour or more during business hours.

The fields to check on every imported trip

A trip that imports cleanly can still be wrong. MTM Health’s Virginia manifests list what a trip should carry: a unique trip ID, the member’s name and phone, pickup and appointment addresses and times, the doctor’s name and phone, the mode and level of assistance, any escort or attendant, the member’s weight with any mobility device, and special instructions. TennCare’s list (Exhibit B) adds the number of legs, the number of riders, any extra stops such as a pharmacy, and whether the rider has Medicare or other coverage. Georgia requires the vehicle manifest each driver completes daily to show the member’s Medicaid number, along with actual times and odometer readings (DCH NEMT manual, section 1007.1).

Field	Why it matters	What to check
Trip ID	It ties the ride to the broker’s authorization and your claim. MTM’s Virginia handbook says never to transport a member without it.	Present on every leg, unchanged, and unique in your schedule
Pickup and appointment times	They set when the van leaves	Both came through, in the right fields, with a.m. and p.m. right and in the local time zone
Pickup address and details	The van has to reach the right door	Unit, entrance, gate code, and pickup notes
Destination and provider	The rider has to reach the right office	Building, suite, and the provider’s phone
Legs and extra stops	A round trip or a pharmacy stop changes the run	Every leg and stop is on a driver’s run
Mode and level of assistance	It decides the vehicle and the help the driver gives	Curb-to-curb, door-to-door, or hand-to-hand, and a vehicle that fits
Escort or attendant	It changes seats and who supplies the attendant	Who rides along, and whether you must supply an attendant
Member weight with equipment	It decides the lift, ramp, and securement	Within your vehicle’s rated limits
Miles and pay	They set what the broker pays	Match the broker’s figure for the trip
Status	Some trips are yours but not yet on a run	In MTM’s Rhode Island portal, an Unassigned trip is assigned to you and must go on a manifest

For level of service terms, see level of service. For what each vehicle must carry, see NEMT trip documentation.

Changes, cancellations, and missing trips

Broker trips change after you import them. Appointments move, riders cancel, and new trips get assigned. Pull changes at set times each day, and treat the broker’s system as the record it pays against.

• Changes. Use a changes-only report where your broker has one, such as MTM Health’s Trip Changes export in Rhode Island. With a live connection, confirm that changes and cancellations update on their own.
• Cancellations and changes you hear about first. New York’s transportation manual (effective August 25, 2023) says companies should use the broker’s web system to attest, cancel, or request changes to trips. In MTM’s Rhode Island portal, you can mark a trip Member Cancel when the member cancels with you directly.
• Pickup times. TennCare’s contract requires plans to make sure providers and drivers never change an assigned pickup time without the plan’s permission. If an imported time looks wrong, ask the broker to change it rather than editing it only in your schedule.
• Reroutes. MediTrans in Louisiana says never to reroute without its dispatch approval, and to decline an offer within 30 minutes if you cannot run it, as of September 2026.
• Turnbacks. MTM’s Rhode Island handbook requires turnbacks at least 24 hours before the appointment, with no same-day turnbacks, and trips taken from its marketplace cannot be turned back. WellTrans requires reroutes at least 12 hours before the scheduled pickup, for trips sent to you at least 36 hours ahead.
• Approvals that change. Illinois’s PassPORT lists requests in the order they were made, which helps you spot trips that were approved and are now denied. Check status again before the ride.

When trips you expected are missing, MediTrans lists the first checks: the date filter, your service area, and whether your account and credentials are active. Then call dispatch. If you work with several brokers, keep one schedule with each trip tagged by broker, as covered in how to work with multiple NEMT brokers.

How to avoid address and time errors

Import errors are cheap to fix before the ride and costly after it. MTM Health’s Virginia handbook counts dropping a member at a location other than the scheduled one, or failing to give the right level of service, as abandonment, one of its most serious infractions.

Error	How to prevent it
Wrong door or building	Read the pickup notes on every trip. MediTrans tells providers to verify the pickup address and any gate codes or access instructions.
A place with no street address	Arizona fee-for-service lets its Daily Trip Report use coordinates, or a nearby landmark with the mileage from it, when there is no formal address (manual revised July 31, 2026)
a.m. and p.m. mixed up	Check any trip before 7:00 a.m. or after 7:00 p.m. by hand. TennCare lets manifests use a.m. and p.m. or 24-hour time, but one format consistently. MTM’s Rhode Island upload uses the format 05:45 AM.
The wrong time zone	TennCare requires plan manifests to show each pickup and appointment time in the time zone of that location. The line between Eastern and Central time runs through Tennessee (49 CFR 71.5). If you serve near a zone line, set each trip’s zone from its address. See the Tennessee NEMT guide.
Appointment time imported as the pickup time	Map each column once and test it on a day you already know. Set pickup times from the appointment, as covered in NEMT scheduling.
A made-up time on a will-call return	Leave it open. MTM’s Rhode Island upload says to leave scheduled times blank when there are none. See will-call trip.
The same trip imported twice	Match on the broker’s trip ID, never on the rider’s name
A canceled trip still on a driver’s run	After each pull, look for trips in your schedule that are no longer in the broker’s list, and confirm with the broker before removing them. TennCare’s contract requires plans to pass on cancellations quickly to avoid unneeded trips.
A wheelchair trip placed on a sedan	Import level of service as its own field, and block assignments that do not match. WellTrans asks you to tell it promptly when a rider is booked at the wrong level of service.
Miles that differ from the broker’s	WellTrans measures the shortest distance from pickup to drop-off, rounded to whole miles. Raise an error before the trip, because running it accepts the broker’s mileage. See loaded miles.
Addresses typed differently on the claim	Keep the imported address. Since November 1, 2022, Arizona fee-for-service NEMT claims must include the pickup and drop-off address for every trip.

Driver apps catch what imports miss. In New York, GPS data that does not match the trip on the invoice can keep you from attesting to it (network manual, October 1, 2023). Louisiana requires its broker to confirm that each claim has a matching entry in the provider’s daily trip log, kept in electronic format (Chapter 10, section 10.5, issued July 14, 2025).

Keep rider information safe in trip files

A trip export is a file of rider health information. CareOregon’s provider manual template (version 1.3, February 2024) lists names, phone numbers, street addresses, ZIP codes, and health plan ID numbers as protected information, and a trip file also shows where each person gets care. It says any email with rider health information must go through a secure email portal, and a provider without one may ask the broker to send an encrypted email.

Four rules keep trip files safe:

1. Share them only with companies under agreement. MTM Health’s standard agreement limits member information to your internal use as reasonably necessary to do the work, and bars sharing it with another business without MTM’s written consent (section 21.B). WellTrans requires a business associate agreement with any billing company, factoring company, or other business that gets your trip logs or manifests.
2. Encrypt the computers that hold them. HHS treats electronic health information encrypted to its standard as secured, as long as the key has not been compromised, and advises keeping the key apart from the data. Breach notice rules apply to unsecured information (45 CFR 164.402).
3. Keep the trip data, not the stray copies. CareOregon’s template says trip data a brokerage’s ride assignment software sends you must be stored by both the brokerage and the provider, and kept at least 6 years. Keep it in your schedule or one secure folder, and dispose of extra copies under your HIPAA disposal policy (45 CFR 164.310(d)).
4. Report problems fast. CareOregon’s template asks providers to report a suspected breach to the brokerage immediately, and no more than 24 hours later. Your own broker agreement may set a different deadline.

See HIPAA for NEMT providers and what to do after a NEMT data breach.

A daily import routine

Set the same routine for every broker, at the same times each day:

1. Pull tomorrow’s trips at a set hour, by connection, download, or manifest. In Tennessee, plan it after 5 p.m., when the day’s new manifests are due. Confirm receipt where the broker requires it, as WellTrans does.
2. Compare counts by broker for tomorrow and the next few days against each broker’s portal.
3. Check every new or changed trip against the field table above.
4. Place unassigned trips on a driver’s run, so no trip that is already yours gets missed.
5. Turn back what you cannot run before each broker’s deadline, through the broker’s own process.
6. Pull changes again late in the day and before the first pickup.
7. Print or send each driver’s run from your schedule, using the daily manifest template if you work on paper.
8. After the rides, check the trips that went back. MTM Health tells providers to confirm synced trips and fix missing details before submitting claims, even with approved software.

Keep in mind what an import is. It tells your drivers what to run. The trip log, GPS trail, and signature from the ride are what back the claim. New York does not accept a driver manifest, dispatch sheet, or prior authorization roster as the only evidence of a trip, and MTM Health in Virginia denies a claim without an electronic trip log showing actual pickup, departure, and arrival times and the member’s signature. The free trip log template covers those fields.