Aetna Better Health of Florida Transportation: Modivcare Booking, Prior Authorization, and Billing

Aetna Better Health of Florida is a Medicaid plan in three of Florida’s nine regions, for both Managed Medical Assistance (MMA) and long-term care (LTC) members. It pays ModivCare Solutions to arrange all of their non-emergency rides, and it publishes its own rules on which rides need approval and how the claims are paid. How Florida’s plans divide their rides among brokers is in the Florida guide, and Modivcare’s application and credentialing are on the Modivcare page. This page covers the rules only Aetna riders ride under.

Where Aetna’s members live

AHCA’s enrollment report for August 31, 2026 counts 127,450 Aetna members in MMA, the main Medicaid program, about 4.6 percent of Florida’s Medicaid plan members. Aetna also had 12,366 LTC members, in the same three regions.

Region	Aetna Medicaid members	Aetna’s share of the region’s plan members	Aetna LTC members
D	34,646	9%	2,319
E	47,841	14%	2,107
I	44,963	13%	7,940

By county, two places hold most of Aetna’s members:

County	Aetna Medicaid members	Share of the county’s plan members
Miami-Dade	44,423	13%
Orange	24,196	14%
Hillsborough	16,822	8%
Polk	11,926	9%
Osceola	9,996	14%
Brevard	8,160	13%
Seminole	5,400	14%
Manatee	3,392	8%
Highlands	1,749	11%
Hardee	646	12%
Monroe	397	7%

Aetna’s share runs highest in the four Region E counties, at 13 to 14 percent. In Region I, 7,378 of its 7,940 LTC members get home and community-based care, so most of Aetna’s Miami-Dade and Monroe LTC members live at home or in assisted living rather than a nursing facility.

How much of Modivcare’s plan work is Aetna

Besides Aetna, AHCA’s second quarter 2026 report lists Modivcare for Humana and Community Care Plan. UnitedHealthcare, which the report still shows with Modivcare as well as MTM, moved its rides to MTM on March 1, 2026. In August 2026, Aetna held 36 percent of the members of Modivcare’s three plans in Region D, 45 percent in Region E, and 48 percent in Region I. Under Florida’s 2025 to 2027 ride waiver, Modivcare also serves Region I’s fee-for-service Medicaid members, while MTM serves them in Regions D and E. The Humana page covers Modivcare’s largest Florida plan.

How Aetna members book rides

Rule	Aetna Better Health of Florida, as of September 2026
Booking line	Modivcare, 1-866-799-4463. TTY 1-866-288-3133 on the rides page, 711 in the provider guide.
Hours	Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern
After hours	Ride Assist, 1-866-799-4464, for late rides, rides from a facility, and return pickups
Booking window	At least 1 business day before a regular trip, and no more than 30 days before the appointment
Shorter notice	Rides home after a hospital discharge, and trips for urgent conditions that need care within 24 hours
Who can book	A member 18 or older, a parent, legal guardian, authorized representative, or case manager
Companion	One attendant, 16 or older, rides at no cost
How many rides	No limit on rides to medical, dental, and behavioral health visits
Online	The Modivcare app, to book, change, and track rides

Aetna’s July 2026 provider guide lists nine holidays when the reservation line is closed: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, the Friday after, and Christmas. Around a holiday the one business day rule reaches further back. A rider with a Monday visit after Thanksgiving weekend has to call by Wednesday, so remind your regular Aetna riders before each holiday.

Which Aetna rides need prior authorization

Aetna’s rides page says Modivcare needs its permission before certain rides. See prior authorization for how approvals work with brokers.

Needs prior authorization	No prior authorization
Stretcher or gurney van	Sedan, van, or taxi
Basic life support	Wheelchair vehicle
Advanced life support	Mass transit
Any one-way trip over 50 miles	One social round trip for LTC members

The 50-mile limit also appears in Aetna’s 2026 member handbook, which lists out-of-state travel, transfers between hospitals or facilities, and escorts when medically necessary as covered. For LTC members, the handbook marks rides to long-term care services as needing prior authorization.

For a stretcher company, the approval is the whole claim. Aetna’s June 17, 2025 bulletin says services Modivcare did not authorize are denied when billed. Check that the approval is on the trip before your crew leaves, and keep it with your trip documentation.

On the day of the ride

• Timing. Aetna tells members to be ready 30 minutes before the driver is due. Drivers are required to wait 10 minutes past the scheduled pickup time.
• At the door. Drivers are not allowed to go inside a member’s home or a medical facility.
• Going home. A member who does not know when the visit ends calls Ride Assist, and Aetna says the ride arrives within an hour of the call. Build that hour into your will-call coverage.
• Children riding alone. Modivcare’s Miami office posts a 2026 consent form for Aetna Medicaid minors. A legal guardian signs it to let a child ride with no adult escort, and returns it by fax to 866-779-5242 or to FLStandingOrder@modivcare.com. If the child stops meeting its terms, Modivcare stops transporting the child without an escort. See transporting children.

Extra rides and no copays

Aetna’s 2026 member handbook adds benefits that Florida does not require. Members 18 and older get 10 one-way trips a month to food banks, local organizations, faith-based groups, and other activities, with no prior authorization. LTC members get one social round trip without authorization, on the rides page.

The handbook also waives copayments on all Medicaid covered services for its members. Florida’s ride policy sets a $1 copay per trip unless the plan waives it, so your driver collects nothing from an Aetna rider.

How Aetna trips are billed and paid

Aetna’s June 17, 2025 bulletin, for both MMA and LTC, sets out who you bill:

1. Aetna is primary. Send the claim to Modivcare. You follow Modivcare’s authorization rules, and trips it did not authorize are denied.
2. Another plan is primary. Bill that payer first. Modivcare does not process secondary claims, so the secondary claim goes to Aetna with the primary payer’s remittance advice. Aetna’s provider manual (revised March 3, 2026) gives you 90 days after the primary payer’s final decision.
3. Medicare is primary. Send nothing to Aetna. The claim crosses over automatically.

For claims that go to Aetna, electronic submissions use payer ID 128FL, and paper claims go to Aetna Better Health of Florida, PO Box 982960, El Paso, TX 79998-2960. See reading a remittance advice and how to bill NEMT brokers.

Florida sets no rate for van trips, so your Modivcare agreement decides what an Aetna trip pays. Read negotiating broker rates before you sign.

How a van company gets Aetna trips

1. Enroll with Florida Medicaid. Florida’s plans must confirm that every provider holds a current AHCA agreement. The Florida guide walks through it.
2. Get the county license where you drive. Several of Aetna’s counties license wheelchair and stretcher companies themselves. Miami-Dade issues a Non-Emergency Certificate for each vehicle (Miami-Dade). Orange County licenses them as alternative transportation services under section 20-131 (Orange County). Osceola requires a county permit for each nonemergency vehicle, decided by the county commission after a public hearing (Osceola County). Hillsborough’s vehicle for hire ordinance covers wheelchair and stretcher vehicles, which it calls handicabs, with permit rules in section 10-583 (Hillsborough County).
3. Apply to Modivcare. Fill out its Become a Transportation Provider form and list every county you serve. Modivcare in Florida covers its other Florida contracts.
4. Line up stretcher approvals. If you run stretcher or life support trips, set up a routine for checking Modivcare’s approval on every one.
5. Visit the facilities near you. Modivcare’s Florida page lets a clinic or dialysis center name a preferred transportation company when it books, though Modivcare assigns trips by its routing criteria and guarantees nothing.

For questions about Aetna transportation claims, Aetna’s June 2025 bulletin points you to its provider engagement team at 1-800-441-5501 for MMA, 1-844-645-7371 for LTC, or FLProviderEngagement@aetna.com. See escalating broker problems.

Who to call

For	Contact
Aetna member ride bookings	Modivcare, 1-866-799-4463 (TTY 1-866-288-3133)
Late rides, returns, after hours	Ride Assist, 1-866-799-4464
Facilities booking Aetna riders	Modivcare Facility Department, 1-866-252-1566, fax 1-866-779-5242
Modivcare’s Florida operations	7900 Oak Lane, Suite 400, Miami Lakes, FL 33016
Aetna provider engagement	1-800-441-5501 (MMA), 1-844-645-7371 (LTC), FLProviderEngagement@aetna.com
Aetna secondary claims	Payer ID 128FL, or PO Box 982960, El Paso, TX 79998-2960
Joining Modivcare’s network	The Become a Transportation Provider form on Modivcare’s website

What to do first

1. Find your county in the table and note how many Aetna members live there.
2. Start Florida Medicaid enrollment and your county license.
3. Send Modivcare’s provider form with every county you serve.
4. Brief your dispatchers: the 10-minute wait, the one-hour will-call window, no copay, and approval before any stretcher or life support trip and any one-way trip over 50 miles.
5. Set up secondary billing for Aetna riders with other coverage, with the 90-day clock after each primary payment.