NJ DDD Transportation in 2027: How to Become a Provider and the Three Ways Rides Are Paid

The New Jersey Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) pays for rides that adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities need to reach day programs, jobs, and community activities. It pays for those rides three ways, and a van company can use two of them. DDD’s Supports Program and Community Care Program manuals of September 2025 set the same transportation rules, in section 17.21. For licenses, insurance, and Medicaid broker work in the state, start with the New Jersey guide.

What NJ DDD transportation pays for

DDD transportation helps a participant reach the services, activities, and resources listed in their service plan. It is a waiver service, so it is separate from Medicaid’s medical ride benefit. The manuals say it comes in addition to the medical transportation required under 42 CFR 431.53 and never replaces it. Rides to doctors, dialysis, and other medical care stay with Modivcare, the state’s broker (see Modivcare in New Jersey).

Both programs serve adults 21 and older:

• Supports Program. Open to adults eligible for both DDD services and Medicaid who live with family or in another unlicensed setting.
• Community Care Program. For adults who also meet the level of care for an intermediate care facility, and who either reach the top of the waiting list or face an emergency. Participants may live with family or in licensed residential settings such as group homes.

Many states pay for these rides through a 1915(c) waiver. New Jersey runs both as section 1115 programs: the Supports Program is part of the Comprehensive Medicaid Waiver that CMS approved on October 1, 2012, and the Community Care Program manual calls that program a section 1115 waiver too. As of December 15, 2025, 30,055 people received DDD-funded services in the community. Bergen County had the most, 2,934, followed by Middlesex with 2,376 and Essex with 2,366.

Four limits shape every trip:

• Free help first. Family, neighbors, friends, or community agencies that drive for free are used whenever possible.
• 150 miles. No trip is paid beyond 150 miles one way.
• No double billing. Transportation cannot be billed where the ride is already part of another rate, such as Individual Supports at the daily rate, or Day Habilitation pickups inside the program’s catchment area.
• One service at a time. Transportation usually cannot be billed at the same time as another service, and Appendix K of the manual lists the few that can overlap. Community Based Supports, for example, needs a second staff member giving one-to-one support while the driver drives, and a medical or behavioral need documented in the plan.

The three ways DDD rides are paid

When a Support Coordinator adds transportation to a plan, they pick one of three options. Only the first pays a set rate, and only the first is a claim you send to Medicaid yourself.

Option	Code and unit	Rate	Who pays you
Multiple passenger	A0090HI22, per mile	$0.77 a mile per rider	NJ Medicaid, through Gainwell
Single passenger	A0090HI, per mile	Reasonable and customary	The fiscal intermediary
Self-directed employee	A0090HI52, per 15 minutes	Reasonable and customary	The fiscal intermediary

The $0.77 rate is in Appendix H of both September 2025 manuals. NJ Medicaid’s procedure listing, updated September 1, 2026, shows the same rate effective July 1, 2026. The Division’s 2019 transportation guide still prints $0.74, so use the manual.

Multiple passenger rate

This option is for a Medicaid and DDD approved provider carrying two or more participants who each use their own budget. You bill the multiple passenger rate for each person’s whole trip, even the stretch when they ride alone because they were picked up first or dropped off last.

Here is an example with made-up distances. You drive three participants to jobs at the same shopping center. The first rides 12 miles, the second 8, and the third 4. Each person’s claim covers their own miles: 24 miles in all, times $0.77, is $18.48 for the morning run. You claim to Medicaid through Gainwell Technologies, New Jersey’s Medicaid fiscal agent. For more on how the code works elsewhere, see A0090.

Single passenger rate

This option covers two cases. One is any community vendor or approved provider carrying one participant for the whole trip. The other is a community vendor whose sole or primary business is transportation, and who offers no other DDD services, carrying one or more participants.

Because the rate is reasonable and customary, the Division approves it before the ride. The Support Coordinator uploads a Single Passenger Rate Transportation Request in iRecord, DDD’s planning system. The form asks for your company name, your requested rate per mile, the daily mileage, the total cost, what the rides are for, and whether any other program can pay. The Division decides within 10 business days. Once it approves, the plan goes through, the fiscal intermediary gets the prior authorization, and you invoice the fiscal intermediary.

A boarding or flat fee goes on a separate Goods and Services request. In an example from the Division’s 2019 transportation guide, a vendor approved at $1.50 a mile that also charges $50 a month bills the miles as single passenger transportation and the monthly fee through Goods and Services, both paid by the fiscal intermediary.

Self-directed employee rate

This option pays a person the participant hires directly, such as a neighbor, in 15-minute units. The wage covers both their time and their mileage and is set case by case. It is how families pay individual drivers, not companies. The fiscal intermediary runs payroll: Acumen NJ for the Vendor Fiscal/Employer Agent model and Easterseals NJ for the Agency with Choice model, as of October 2026.

Which route fits your company

Pick the route by how you run trips:

• Shared runs to jobs and activities. Become a Medicaid and DDD approved provider and bill the multiple passenger rate. The rate is fixed, and Medicaid pays it on a claim.
• One rider at a time. You bill the single passenger rate, even if you are an approved provider. Quote a per-mile rate the Division will accept as reasonable and customary, and give the Support Coordinator your daily mileage for the request.
• A business that mainly drives people and wants to skip enrollment. If you offer no other DDD services, you can be paid as a community vendor at the single passenger rate, even with several riders aboard. The manual says a business that serves the general public is paid through the fiscal intermediary and does not need the combined Medicaid and DDD application.

Whichever route you pick, the Division does not send you riders. The manual says it is your job to market to participants and their families. Support Coordinators find providers on DDD’s Provider Search, which filters by service, county served, and language, so introduce yourself to the Support Coordination Agencies in your county.

How to become a Medicaid and DDD approved transportation provider

These steps follow DDD’s Apply to Become a Provider page and section 9 of the Supports Program manual, as of October 2026:

1. Read the manuals. Section 17.21 sets the transportation rules, and sections 11 and 12 set the duties of every approved provider.
2. Get an NPI. Apply in NPPES for your administrative office. Services in the community use that one NPI. See how to get an NPI.
3. Fill out the Combined Application online. One application enrolls you with Medicaid and approves you for the DDD services you pick. Choose Transportation, and keep a copy, because you file it again to add services or locations.
4. Assemble the packet. It holds the application cover letter, the NPI request, signature authorization and provider start date forms, the FD-20 provider application, the DDD provider agreement, the disclosure of ownership and control interest statement, a W-9, the notice to enrollee, the affirmative action survey, the direct deposit authorization, the agreement of understanding, the DDD statement of intent with the verification code from the online application, the HIPAA business associate agreement, and the required documents for Transportation.
5. Print it and mail it to Gainwell Technologies, Provider Enrollment Unit, PO Box 4804, Trenton, NJ 08650-4804. Questions go to the DDD Provider Helpdesk at DDD.ProviderHelpdesk@dhs.nj.gov or Gainwell Provider Enrollment at 609-588-6036.
6. Write your policies and procedures manual. For transportation, Appendix R requires four sections: incident reporting, complaint investigation, HIPAA and protected health information, and reporting Medicaid fraud, waste, and abuse. Review it at least once a year. Our policies and procedures guide covers the basics.
7. Set up training and your listing. After you enroll, you get access to the College of Direct Support, the Division’s online training system, and you name two agency administrators for it. DDD asks you to update your Provider Search description at least every six months by emailing DDD’s provider data spreadsheet to the helpdesk. Descriptions are limited to 570 characters.

Driver and vehicle requirements

Drivers

Under sections 17.21.3 and 17.21.5.2, each driver must:

• Be at least 18 years old.
• Hold a valid driver’s license and an abstract with no more than 5 points.
• Pass state and federal criminal background checks and a Central Registry check at hire.
• Take the drug tests the Stephen Komninos’ Law requires, in effect since May 1, 2018: at hire, at random, and for cause. An applicant who refuses or tests positive cannot be hired.
• Complete the training the Division requires. Agency trainers need at least one year of experience in the field or in training.

The Community Care Program manual adds a Child Abuse Record Information (CARI) check. DDD’s provider guidebook of October 2025 says to submit new hires’ CARI applications within 10 days of hire, to run exclusion checks at hire and every month (see OIG exclusion list), and to keep the criminal history clearance letter from the state’s FARA portal in each file. Record each driver’s qualifications in the employment application, resume, reference check, or another personnel document, and keep the files ready for Division review. Our driver background check guide covers how checks work.

Every employee must report suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation. The DDD Abuse Hotline is 1-800-832-9173, then press 1. Under the Komninos law, failing to report is a disorderly persons offense that can bring a fine of $350 for each day it goes unreported.

Vehicles

Every vehicle that carries DDD participants must:

• Meet New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission safety and licensing rules, and be kept in safe operating condition.
• Carry no more riders than it has seatbelts and wheelchair securement positions.
• Have a working lift and wheelchair securements when it carries wheelchair users.
• Carry a 10:BC dry chemical fire extinguisher, a first aid kit, and at least three portable red reflector warning devices.
• Use snow tires, all-weather tires, or chains when the weather calls for them.

The Community Care Program manual applies these vehicle rules to approved providers and not to community vendors. If you also run Medicaid medical trips in wheelchair vans, those trips still need the Department of Health mobility assistance vehicle license in the New Jersey guide.

Prior authorization, trip records, and claims

A ride is paid only if it was authorized before you drove it. When the Division approves a service plan, it generates weekly prior authorizations and emails each provider the approved plan and a Service Detail Report with the start and end dates, units, and codes. Medicaid also sends you a letter whenever a prior authorization is created, changed, or revoked, and the newest one replaces the older ones. Rides outside the current authorization are not paid. See prior authorization.

For every rider on every trip, record the date, the pickup and drop-off addresses, and the miles, and make them match the authorization. Before you claim, the manual also requires a valid authorization, the participant’s Medicaid ID and the code and rate from the Service Detail Report, and trained, vetted staff. Claims that miss those standards must be repaid to Medicaid.

Submit claims on the NJMMIS website or by bulk electronic submission. Gainwell provider services, at 800-776-6334, trains providers on claiming. Transportation was not on DDD’s electronic visit verification list as of October 2026. Our trip documentation guide covers trip records in general.

Two financial rules apply as you grow:

• Annual audit. A provider that claims $350,000 or more in combined Community Care Program and Supports Program payments in its fiscal year needs an annual financial statement audit under generally accepted auditing standards.
• Five-day notices. Tell the Division within five business days of a material change in your insurance coverage, a default on a loan or other debt, or a lawsuit filed or threatened that could affect service.

To compare this with other states’ waiver ride programs, see waiver transportation providers.