Driscoll Health Plan Transportation: SafeRide Rides, Extra Pantry and Grocery Trips, and How to Get the Trips

Driscoll Health Plan is based in Corpus Christi and is part of the Driscoll Health System, alongside Driscoll Children’s Hospital. It covers Texas Medicaid and CHIP members in two parts of South Texas, and it sends every ride request to SafeRide Health. HHSC’s preliminary count for May 2026 put the plan at about 190,000 members. The Texas guide covers TMHP enrollment, driver rules, and insurance. This page covers what only Driscoll does: where its members live, the extra rides it adds each plan year and their limits, and its forms for young riders.

Where Driscoll members live

HHSC lists which plans serve each of its managed care service areas. Driscoll has two, and the programs differ between them, as of HHSC’s map revised in August 2026.

Area	Programs	Counties
Corpus Christi area	STAR, STAR Kids, CHIP	Aransas, Bee, Brooks, Calhoun, Goliad, Jim Wells, Karnes, Kenedy, Kleberg, Live Oak, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Victoria
Rio Grande Valley and Laredo	STAR, STAR Kids	Cameron, Duval, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, Maverick, McMullen, Starr, Webb, Willacy, Zapata

HHSC calls these the Nueces and Hidalgo service areas. In its May 2026 preliminary count, about 120,700 of Driscoll’s members live in the Valley and Laredo area and about 69,600 in the Corpus Christi area. Driscoll is the largest plan around Corpus Christi, where Superior HealthPlan had about 33,200 members. In the Valley it ranks second to Superior, which had about 175,600. By HHSC’s ride vendor list and service area map, every Medicaid plan in the Valley uses SafeRide, not only Driscoll. See SafeRide Health in Texas.

CHIP is the odd one out. Driscoll lists CHIP rides as an extra service, and HHSC’s CHIP chart files them under extra help getting a ride when state services are not available. HHSC’s map names Driscoll for CHIP only in the Corpus Christi area, where its count was about 3,200 members.

How Driscoll members book rides

Members call SafeRide Health at 833-694-5881. HHSC’s contact list, Driscoll’s transportation page, and the plan’s handbooks all give that number. The plan’s page lists Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the September 2025 handbooks list 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. A member can also book on SafeRide’s web portal at any hour, after a first phone call that sets up the login with an email address.

Driscoll has no separate Where’s My Ride line. Members check on a ride at the same number.

Notice, pickups, and waits

These are the rules Driscoll gives its members as of October 2026:

• Notice. The STAR handbook says at least two business days ahead. A hospital discharge, a pharmacy trip for medicine or approved supplies, and an urgent condition needing care within 24 hours can be booked with less. The plan’s page lists five business days for long-distance trips and tells members to call five days ahead when the visit is outside their county.
• Hours. Pickups and drop-offs run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, when they are requested in advance.
• Early arrival. The plan tells members that drivers should arrive 15 minutes before the scheduled pickup time.
• Return trips. Returns are set when the ride is booked. The plan warns that last-minute return requests can mean a wait of up to three hours, so SafeRide asks members to book a tentative return time. See will-call trips.
• Ride types. The plan’s page lists curb-to-curb and door-to-door rides, wheelchair and bariatric vehicles, stretchers, public transit, and rideshare. It says rideshare vehicles are not equipped for mobility needs, so wheelchair, bariatric, and stretcher trips go to vehicles built for them.
• Complaints. Members call the plan at 877-324-7543, and the plan passes the complaint to SafeRide.

Driscoll’s handbooks say members 20 and younger on a long trip may get lodging, money in advance, and meals at $25 a day for the member and $25 more for an approved attendant. Long-distance medical transport covers pricing those runs.

Riders under 18 and companions

Driscoll’s handbooks say a child 14 or younger rides with a parent, guardian, or other authorized adult. A 15 to 17 year old rides alone only when a parent or guardian has consent on file, and consent is not needed when the care is confidential.

SafeRide’s Driscoll page posts two forms for young riders:

• Minor Consent Form. A parent or legal guardian signs it so a 15 to 17 year old can ride without an adult. SafeRide must have it on file before the trip is set up.
• Parental Accompaniment Form. A parent or guardian names up to two attendants besides themselves. The form must be on file or handed to your driver, and the attendant shows a photo ID.

The plan lets one other person ride along, such as a caretaker or relative, if the member says so when booking. See children in NEMT and escorts and caregivers.

Extra rides in the 2026-27 plan year

Driscoll adds rides that Texas Medicaid does not require, and HHSC lists them as value-added services. They run on the plan year, September 1, 2026 to August 31, 2027, and members book them with SafeRide at the same number.

• STAR. Rides to local food pantries, grocery stores, Driscoll health classes, community events, Driscoll-sponsored events, and the Social Security office.
• STAR Kids. The same list, plus lice treatment centers that contract with Driscoll and WIC offices.
• CHIP, Corpus Christi area only. Rides to doctor, therapy, and specialty visits, lice treatment centers, Social Security and WIC offices, and Driscoll events. Members ask two days ahead, and up to five people ride, counting the member and a parent or attendant. A visit outside Driscoll’s network or service area needs the plan’s approval first.

Driscoll’s pages set these limits:

1. A social-needs screening first. Pantry and grocery rides need what the plan calls an SDOH evaluation.
2. Inside Driscoll’s service area. Pantry, grocery, class, and community event rides have to stay in the plan’s area.
3. A 25-mile radius. Pantry rides, class and event rides, and Social Security office trips can go farther with the plan’s prior approval. The plan lists no such exception for groceries.
4. One hour at the store. A grocery visit may last one hour in all, store time and travel together, and the plan’s grocery limits also name members with special health care needs.
5. Sign up for classes. A class or community event ride needs the member to be pre-registered.

HHSC’s September 1, 2026 charts for STAR describe Driscoll’s rides more widely than the plan’s own STAR page does: they add contracted lice centers and government assistance offices in general, where the plan’s page names only the Social Security office. Ask your SafeRide representative which of these trip types you can take and how each pays.

Family and friend mileage

Driscoll’s page says anyone who drives a member to a covered visit can be paid mileage at the current federal mileage reimbursement rate. The doctor signs a form that confirms the visit. The STAR handbook calls the driver an individual transportation participant. See mileage reimbursement.

SafeRide’s Driscoll page sets the working rules:

• Register first. A driver registers in SafeRide’s Driscoll application portal. A ride with no driver on file is not reimbursed.
• Book with SafeRide before the trip. Every claim needs a ride booked ahead.
• Only the driver is paid, even when two members are in the car, and the trip should start from the address in the member’s SafeRide profile.

Registration help is at 855-932-2331 or driscoll_driver@saferidehealth.com. A member with a relative who has a car can use this instead of booking a van.

How to get Driscoll trips

Driscoll’s October 2026 provider manual names SafeRide Health, Inc. as the subcontractor that provides its NEMT and sends NEMT billing questions to SafeRide. So your agreement, your trips, and your invoices all run through SafeRide.

1. Enroll in Texas Medicaid through TMHP. Section 2200 of the state’s NEMT handbook has the plan or its subcontractor confirm that enrollment before signing an agreement. The Texas NEMT provider enrollment guide walks through the application.
2. Finish SafeRide’s provider form and credentialing. The company, driver, and vehicle checklist is in our SafeRide Health guide, and the Texas insurance limits are on SafeRide Health in Texas.
3. Name the counties you serve. Use the table above, and say whether you cover the Corpus Christi area, the Rio Grande Valley and Laredo, or both.
4. Ask about the extras. Pantry, grocery, and class rides are not medical visits, so confirm in writing how SafeRide pays them.

Your rate is in your SafeRide agreement. Other SafeRide plans with their own rules include Texas Children’s Health Plan and Superior HealthPlan.

Who to call

For	Contact (October 2026)
Book, change, or check a ride	SafeRide Health, 833-694-5881 (TTY 800-735-2989)
Mileage driver registration	SafeRide, 855-932-2331, driscoll_driver@saferidehealth.com
Complaint about a ride	Driscoll Health Plan Member Services, 877-324-7543
Driscoll Provider Services	Corpus Christi area 877-324-3627, Valley and Laredo 855-425-3247

What to do first

1. Pick your counties from the table and note which programs have members there.
2. Start TMHP enrollment now, since the state’s NEMT handbook has a plan’s subcontractor confirm your enrollment before it signs an agreement.
3. Fill out SafeRide’s form in one sitting, with your NPI ready. A form left unfinished for 30 days starts over.
4. Give clinics 833-694-5881, and tell them to book return times when they book the ride.
5. Show drivers both minor forms, and train the photo ID check for attendants.
6. Ask what the extra rides pay before you accept pantry or grocery runs.