Healthfirst Transportation: Modivcare Trips for Medicare Plans, MAS Rides for Medicaid

Healthfirst is New York City’s largest Medicaid health plan. The state’s August 2026 count gave it 925,947 Medicaid managed care members in the five boroughs, about 39 percent of the city’s 2,394,295, and 1,128,719 statewide. Its Medicare contract H3359, which holds every Healthfirst Medicare plan with a ride benefit, had 357,072 members in the CMS report for September 2026.

Those members reach a transportation company through two different brokers. Modivcare books the trips Healthfirst’s Medicare plans pay for, and Medical Answering Services (MAS) books everything New York Medicaid pays for. Healthfirst’s own plan pages say both arrange its covered rides. The New York guide explains the statewide Medicaid system.

Which Healthfirst plans use Modivcare and which use MAS

Four Healthfirst Medicare plans include free one-way trips each year through Modivcare, and every Medicaid-paid ride goes through MAS. Here is each plan’s routine ride benefit, from its 2026 and 2027 plan pages and evidence of coverage:

Healthfirst plan	One-way trips a year, 2026 and 2027	Who books the ride
Increased Benefits Plan (HMO)	20, then 20	Modivcare
Life Improvement Plan (HMO D-SNP)	18, then 18	Modivcare, then MAS once the trips run out
Connection Plan (HMO D-SNP)	18, then 16	Modivcare, then MAS once the trips run out
65 Plus (HMO)	8, then 4	Modivcare
Signature (HMO) and Signature (PPO)	None	Ambulance trips only
CompleteCare (HMO D-SNP)	No set count	MAS, paid by Medicaid
Medicaid Managed Care	No set count	MAS, paid by Medicaid
Senior Health Partners (MLTC)	No set count	MAS, paid by Medicaid

Some counts have dropped. Life Improvement members whom Healthfirst moved into the Connection Plan for 2026 went from 28 trips in 2025 to 18, by their 2026 notice of change. For 2027, 65 Plus drops from 8 trips to 4 and Connection from 18 to 16, by each plan’s annual notice of change.

Each plan covers its own counties. For 2027, 65 Plus serves the five boroughs, Nassau, and Westchester, which it adds that year. Life Improvement and Increased Benefits add Suffolk, Orange, Rockland, and Sullivan. Connection and CompleteCare serve the five boroughs, Nassau, Orange, Rockland, Sullivan, and Westchester.

How Healthfirst’s Modivcare trips work

The 2027 evidence of coverage for each of the four plans sets the same rules:

• Booking. Members call Modivcare at 1-844-772-6629 (TTY 1-866-288-3133) at least two business days before the appointment. Healthfirst’s member help page gives the hours as weekdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and tells members to plan to arrive 30 minutes early.
• Destination. The trip must go to an approved provider location inside the plan’s service area. A ride to an out-of-network provider is covered only when it is medically necessary and authorized in advance.
• Authorization. Every trip needs prior authorization, and Healthfirst does not repay members for a ride it did not authorize, except public transit.
• Vendor. A participating transportation company arranged by Modivcare drives the trip, so your company must be in Modivcare’s network to get it.

When a dual plan member uses up the plan’s trips, the Life Improvement and Connection documents say Medicaid covers any more trips for members who qualify. That ride is a MAS trip, paid by Medicaid. The 65 Plus and Increased Benefits documents list no rides after the limit, so unless the member also has full Medicaid, one more ride is private pay. Members can check how many trips they have left in Healthfirst’s member portal or app.

Nonemergency ambulance trips

Every Healthfirst Medicare plan, Signature included, covers ambulance trips when other transport could endanger the member’s health. In the 2027 evidence of coverage for 65 Plus, Increased Benefits, Life Improvement, Connection, and CompleteCare, a nonemergency ambulance needs prior authorization and is arranged through Healthfirst’s transportation vendor. For a BLS or ALS trip, the member’s provider submits a Medical Necessity Form when scheduling, and the four plans with trip benefits limit it to 50 miles each way. Providers get the form from Healthfirst Provider Services at 1-888-801-1660, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Medicaid and CompleteCare rides go through MAS

Healthfirst’s Medicaid Managed Care page says MAS provides its covered rides. CompleteCare’s 2027 evidence of coverage lists non-emergency medical transportation among services fee-for-service Medicaid covers outside the plan, and Senior Health Partners’ 2026 handbook sends members to MAS too. Among Healthfirst’s counties, MAS’s downstate line, 844-666-6270, serves New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester, and its upstate line, 866-932-7740, serves Orange, Rockland, and Sullivan.

MAS asks for 72 hours of notice, and every trip needs its approval first, by the state’s Medicaid transportation page. The MAS provider guide covers its rules, rates, and contract.

CompleteCare is a big part of this work. In the state’s August 2026 count it had 42,950 members, about half of New York’s 87,109 Medicaid Advantage Plus members, and 40,571 of them live in New York City. CompleteCare also covers social day care with prior authorization, and Healthfirst describes that service as one that may include transportation. When a day center provides that ride, your contract is with the center; see adult day care transportation.

Where Healthfirst’s Medicaid members live

Healthfirst’s Medicaid riders sit almost entirely in New York City and on Long Island. The state’s August 2026 enrollment report counts them by county, alongside CompleteCare:

County	Medicaid managed care members	CompleteCare members
New York City (five boroughs)	925,947	40,571
Suffolk	98,232	Not offered
Nassau	67,589	1,155
Westchester	22,882	1,061
Orange	7,281	74
Rockland	4,901	78
Sullivan	1,887	11

The same report counts 11,640 Healthfirst members in Integrated Benefits for Dually Eligible Enrollees, which pairs Healthfirst Medicaid with a Healthfirst dual plan, and 9,225 in Senior Health Partners.

How to get Healthfirst trips

Healthfirst’s network request form lists ambulance service providers but no ambulette, livery, or taxi category, so car and van companies reach its members through the brokers:

1. Get licensed for your area. In New York City, a Medicaid car service needs a TLC base license (livery, for-hire, paratransit, or black car), and an ambulette company needs a NYSDOT common carrier certificate or contract carrier permit plus a DMV Article 19-A letter of compliance. The New York City page covers each license, its cost, and the TLC rules, and the Nassau County and Suffolk County pages cover the Long Island licenses.
2. Join MAS for the Medicaid side. Send MAS its network application. If MAS gives you a letter of support, enroll with New York Medicaid, which can take 90 days or longer, then join the MAS network under its contract requirements.
3. Join Modivcare for the Medicare side. Apply through its provider form and name the counties above. The Modivcare provider guide lists its requirements.
4. Talk to social day care centers that serve CompleteCare members, since those routes are signed with the center.
5. Ambulance services can request Healthfirst’s network directly. Each nonemergency trip still needs prior authorization and, for BLS or ALS, the Medical Necessity Form.

For how Medicare Advantage ride benefits work in general, see Medicare Advantage transportation.

MetroPlus and Elderplan use the same split

Two other New York City plans send their Medicare trips to Modivcare while Medicaid rides go to MAS. Modivcare’s New York facility page lists lines for both.

• MetroPlusHealth. Its 2027 MetroPlus Advantage Plan (HMO D-SNP) covers 50 one-way trips a year, provided by Modivcare and booked through MetroPlus Member Services at least two days ahead. Its UltraCare plan, a Medicaid Advantage Plus plan, covers 80. Both plans tell members that Medicaid covers unlimited rides beyond that. MetroPlus’s Medicare contract, H0423, had 14,089 members in September 2026.
• Elderplan. Members of Elderplan for Medicaid Beneficiaries (HMO-POS D-SNP) book with Modivcare at 1-877-659-6141, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and get up to 24 one-way trips in 2027. Its 2027 summary of benefits lists non-emergent transportation among the Medicaid services the plan does not cover, so other rides go through Medicaid. A member unsure when a visit will end calls 1-877-659-6142 afterward, and a ride arrives within 90 minutes. Elderplan’s contract, H3347, had 27,076 members in September 2026.

Who to call

• Modivcare, Healthfirst Medicare plan trips: 1-844-772-6629 (TTY 1-866-288-3133)
• MAS downstate, New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester: 844-666-6270
• MAS upstate, Orange, Rockland, and Sullivan: 866-932-7740
• Healthfirst Medicare Member Services: 1-888-260-1010 (TTY 1-888-542-3821), 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., every day from October to March and weekdays from April to September
• Healthfirst Provider Services, Medical Necessity Form: 1-888-801-1660
• NYSDOH Medicaid transportation: medtrans@health.ny.gov or 518-473-2160