NEMT Holiday Schedule in 2027: Dialysis Chair Times, Broker Closures, and Staffing

Holiday weeks squeeze standing-order work from every side. Dialysis centers move chair times, broker offices close, banks pause, and drivers want time off, all in the same few days. A plan made a month ahead helps keep every rider on time and your vans staffed on the days that pile up.

Holiday dates through 2027 and the dialysis days they hit

Most in-center hemodialysis runs on one of two set schedules: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, about four hours a visit (NIDDK). A holiday hits whichever group has a chair on that weekday.

The dates below come from OPM’s federal holiday schedules. Federal offices observe a Saturday holiday on the Friday before and a Sunday holiday on the Monday after. Federal Reserve Banks follow a different rule: they stay open on the Friday before a Saturday holiday and close on the Monday after a Sunday holiday. That difference matters for direct deposits.

Holiday	Date	Dialysis group it lands on	Federal Reserve
Columbus Day	Monday, October 12, 2026	Mon, Wed, Fri	Closed
Veterans Day	Wednesday, November 11, 2026	Mon, Wed, Fri	Closed
Thanksgiving Day	Thursday, November 26, 2026	Tue, Thu, Sat	Closed
Christmas Day	Friday, December 25, 2026	Mon, Wed, Fri	Closed
New Year’s Day	Friday, January 1, 2027	Mon, Wed, Fri	Closed
Martin Luther King Jr. Day	Monday, January 18, 2027	Mon, Wed, Fri	Closed
Washington’s Birthday	Monday, February 15, 2027	Mon, Wed, Fri	Closed
Memorial Day	Monday, May 31, 2027	Mon, Wed, Fri	Closed
Juneteenth	Saturday, June 19, 2027. Federal offices observe Friday, June 18.	Tue, Thu, Sat, plus Mon, Wed, Fri if the center closes Friday	Open Friday, June 18
Independence Day	Sunday, July 4, 2027. Observed Monday, July 5.	Mon, Wed, Fri if the center closes Monday	Closed Monday, July 5
Labor Day	Monday, September 6, 2027	Mon, Wed, Fri	Closed
Columbus Day	Monday, October 11, 2027	Mon, Wed, Fri	Closed
Veterans Day	Thursday, November 11, 2027	Tue, Thu, Sat	Closed
Thanksgiving Day	Thursday, November 25, 2027	Tue, Thu, Sat	Closed
Christmas Day	Saturday, December 25, 2027. Federal offices observe Friday, December 24.	Tue, Thu, Sat, plus Mon, Wed, Fri if the center closes Friday	Open Friday, December 24

New Year’s Day 2028 falls on a Saturday, so federal offices observe it on Friday, December 31, 2027. Federal Reserve Banks stay open that Friday.

Some days that are not federal holidays change schedules too. Cascade Health Alliance in Oregon closes its office on the day after Thanksgiving, as well as on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Veterans Day, while TransLink, which schedules its rides, closes on only six holidays (2026 rider guide). Ask each center and broker about the Friday after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and New Year’s Eve as well.

How dialysis centers change chair times around holidays

Each center sets its own holiday plan, so the only schedule you can trust is the one the center gives you. Washington University’s kidney program in St. Louis is one example: its centers are open six days a week, Monday through Saturday, and around major holidays they may also open on Sunday. Its appointment times usually run from 6:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Treat every holiday change as a moved treatment, not a day off, until the center says otherwise. The National Kidney Foundation warns that a skipped treatment leaves extra fluid to remove at the next one, which can bring cramping, headaches, low blood pressure, or nausea, and that high potassium from missed treatments can cause heart problems. A rider coming out of a harder treatment may need more time and help getting to the van. The dialysis transportation guide covers helping riders after treatment.

What to ask each center, in writing

• Is the center closed on the holiday itself, on the observed day, or both?
• Which shifts move, and to which day: an earlier day, a later day, or an added Sunday?
• What are the new chair times, and do early shifts start earlier than usual?
• Does a nighttime shift change? Some centers run nighttime treatment three nights a week (NIDDK).
• Who at the center sends the changes to the broker, and by what date?
• What is the center’s alternate emergency phone number? Every center must give patients one for times an emergency knocks out its phones, unless it can forward calls to a working number (42 CFR 494.62), and holiday weeks can bring winter storms.

Opioid treatment programs work differently. A patient in comprehensive treatment may take home doses for days the clinic is closed, including state and federal holidays (42 CFR 8.12(i)(1)). A closed clinic can mean no ride that day, so confirm with the clinic before you plan one. See methadone clinic rides.

Get every change to the broker before its office closes

Standing orders do not change on their own. Modivcare’s Oklahoma facility page says its system keeps sending the original trip information until Modivcare is told about a change. It also warns that a rider whose facility tells only the transportation company risks a missed appointment if the trip goes to another provider.

New York’s MAS works the same way. Providers must follow the times and addresses on each trip, changes must be requested through MAS in advance by the member or the medical provider, and changes asked for after the ride may not be approved. You also record your own holiday closures in your Transportation Provider Profile (manual of October 1, 2023). The weekly routine for keeping orders current is in NEMT standing orders.

Broker offices close on holidays too, which shortens the time you have to make those changes.

Program	Holiday closures	Booking rule	Do holidays count toward the deadline?
Georgia (DCH manual, July 1, 2026)	Scheduling may close on New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. After-hours paging stays on.	Members book at least 3 business days ahead. The day of the call counts; the day of the appointment does not.	No. Those six days are not business days.
Kentucky (603 KAR 7:080)	Scheduling, regular rides, and business offices closed on the same six holidays. Urgent care rides run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays.	Members call at least 72 hours before the appointment.	Yes. Weekends and holidays count toward the 72 hours.
Illinois fee-for-service (HFS handbook, March 11, 2024)	Transdev’s business hours, Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., exclude major holidays. Its web portal takes requests 24 hours a day.	Prior authorization requests at least 7 business days before the ride.	No. Business days exclude Saturdays, Sundays, and major holidays.
Oregon, Bay Cities Brokerage (2026 rider guide)	Call center closed on six holidays approved by the Oregon Health Authority.	Rides can be booked up to 90 days ahead. Weekend and holiday appointments are harder to schedule.	Not stated
Oregon, TransLink (2026 rider guide)	Call center open Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and closed on six holidays. An after-hours message covers other times.	Up to 90 days ahead. Call as early as possible for holiday rides.	Not stated
New York, MAS (October 1, 2023)	You list your own holiday closures in your provider profile.	Changes go through MAS in advance.	Not stated

How a holiday moves a deadline

Georgia’s rule shows the math. Three business days, counting the day of the call, and Christmas Day is not a business day. For a ride on Monday, December 28, 2026, the three business days before it are Tuesday, December 22, Wednesday, December 23, and Thursday, December 24. The request has to be in by Tuesday, December 22, a day earlier than in a normal week.

Thanksgiving works the same way. For a ride on Monday, November 30, 2026, the last day to call is Tuesday, November 24.

A holiday week timeline

1. Four weeks out, collect every center’s plan. Use the questions above and ask for the answers by email, so you have them in writing.
2. Three weeks out, list every moved leg. Go rider by rider through your standing orders and write the old and new day and time for each leg. The standing order form has a closures section for this.
3. Two weeks out, confirm the changes reached the broker. The center or rider makes the change, and you check that it happened. In Illinois fee-for-service, prior authorization requests need 7 business days.
4. One week out, check the trips you are offered. MTM Health’s Virginia handbook (approved August 10, 2026) sends trips to providers seven days before the appointment, shows every open trip in a provider’s service area in its marketplace at five days, and has dispatchers call providers four to five days out. Compare each offered trip with your list of moved legs. See broker trip offers.
5. Hand back what you cannot cover, early. MTM Health asks for turnbacks at least 24 hours before the scheduled pickup in Virginia, and at least 24 hours before the appointment in Rhode Island (handbook updated July 1, 2026), where trips taken from the marketplace cannot be turned back at all. CareOregon asks for as much notice as possible and lists driver vacations and cultural or religious holidays among acceptable reasons, but a pattern of last-minute returns can lead to a corrective action plan.
6. The day before, confirm each rider. MTM Health’s Rhode Island handbook requires a call to each member 24 hours before the ride to confirm the pickup time. Give riders their new time on that call.
7. On the day, keep someone on call. Urgent rides still come in: Kentucky’s brokers run them 24 hours a day, including holidays, and Georgia’s broker keeps paging after hours. See after-hours NEMT.
8. After the holiday, bill promptly. Check each completed leg against its trip before you submit, and note any leg that ran at a new time with the broker’s approval.

How to staff a holiday week

When a center closes, its patients still need treatment, so the work lands on the days around the holiday. Count it before you build the schedule.

Here is an example with made-up numbers. You drive 10 Monday, Wednesday, Friday riders and 8 Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday riders to one center, two legs per rider per treatment day. The center closes on Friday, December 25, 2026 and moves its Friday patients to Saturday.

Day	Legs in a normal week	Legs in Christmas week 2026
Monday, December 21	20	20
Tuesday, December 22	16	16
Wednesday, December 23	20	20
Thursday, December 24	16	16
Friday, December 25	20	0
Saturday, December 26	16	36

Saturday more than doubles. Build that day first: count its legs by hour, as the NEMT driver schedules guide shows, then fill the rest of the week around it. Ask drivers for their holiday availability as soon as you have the centers’ plans.

• Keep regular drivers on regular riders where you can. MTM Health’s Virginia handbook asks providers to make a best-faith effort to use the same driver for standing orders, and to document when an alternate driver is needed.
• Share holiday shifts fairly. Put the rotation in writing, so the same drivers do not work every holiday year after year.
• Watch the workweek. Moved shifts and added Sundays can push a driver past 40 hours. Overtime is owed for every hour over 40 in a workweek, and each week stands on its own (29 CFR 778.104). See NEMT driver overtime.

Holiday pay rules

Pay choice	What federal law says
Pay for a holiday not worked	Not required. The Fair Labor Standards Act leaves holiday pay to agreement. Pay for a day off is not hours worked and stays out of the regular rate (29 CFR 778.218).
Premium pay for working the holiday	Not required (Department of Labor). A premium of at least time and a half can be credited toward overtime owed. A smaller premium goes into the regular rate (29 CFR 778.203).
A holiday gift bonus	Stays out of the regular rate if it is a true gift, not tied to hours, production, or efficiency, and not promised by contract (29 CFR 778.212).
A bonus for covering every shift that week	Counts in the regular rate. Most attendance bonuses do (29 CFR 778.211).
Holiday gifts to drivers	Cash and gift cards usable like cash are taxable wages. An occasional non-cash holiday gift of low value can be a tax-free de minimis benefit (IRS).
Government contracts under the Service Contract Act	On contracts over $2,500, the contract’s wage determination sets holiday benefits (Department of Labor). See VA transportation contracts.

States may add their own holiday or premium pay rules, so check with your state labor office.

Payments, claims, and bad weather in holiday weeks

Direct deposits pause. Broker and Medicaid payments by direct deposit travel over the ACH network, and the Federal Reserve’s ACH service stops processing over each Federal Reserve holiday. For Thanksgiving 2026, processing ends at 11:30 p.m. Eastern on November 25 and resumes at 5:30 p.m. on November 26. For Christmas 2026, it ends at 11:30 p.m. on December 24 and resumes at 5:30 p.m. on December 27. Columbus Day and Veterans Day are Federal Reserve holidays too.

Payment runs can shift. Modivcare posts its check run dates in its provider portal and tells providers to check them, especially around holidays (2025 provider training). Ask each broker for its holiday payment calendar, and hold enough cash to meet a payroll that lands before a late deposit. See NEMT cash flow and how long Medicaid takes to pay.

Filing limits keep running. MTM’s standard agreement, in the January 1, 2023 version Pennsylvania posts, makes claims filed more than 90 days after the date of service ineligible for payment unless its client sets another limit (section 6.A). A holiday backlog is no excuse, so keep billing on schedule.

Plan for storms. Some payers write weather into their contracts. Washington County, Maryland’s NEMT request for proposals, issued April 13, 2026, requires a plan to get dialysis and chemotherapy patients to treatment in snow, ice, sleet, or freezing rain. Build your holiday plan and your bad weather policy together, and keep each center’s alternate emergency number on the dispatch desk.