# Hennepin Health Transportation: How the County Plan Books Rides and Chooses Ride Companies

Canonical URL: https://nemtguide.com/health-plans/hennepin-health/ · Updated 2026-10-06

Hennepin Health, the Medicaid plan Hennepin County owns, books its members' rides itself. Members or their clinics call Member Services at 612-596-1036 at least three days before the visit, and Hennepin Health verifies the appointment, authorizes the ride, and sends it to a contracted taxi or special transportation company. No broker sits in between, so a ride company gets these trips through a contract with Hennepin Health itself.

- Hennepin Health Member Services books every member ride itself, with no broker, so a contract with the plan is the way to get these trips.
- Each taxi and special transportation ride needs a service authorization tied to a verified appointment, booked three days ahead.
- Members get bus passes first and qualify for a car or van only under four conditions, one of them a provider form renewed every three months.
- New members can keep a company that is not in the network for 30 days, and Hennepin Health must hear about any extension 14 days before that ends.
- A company located in Hennepin County cannot enroll with the state as a new NEMT provider until January 27, 2027, and Hennepin Health requires that enrollment first.

## Hennepin Health rides at a glance

| Fact | Details |
| --- | --- |
| Who it covers | Hennepin County residents in Hennepin Health-PMAP (ages 0 to 64), Hennepin Health-MinnesotaCare, or Hennepin Health-SNBC (ages 18 to 64, certified disabled): 32,723 members on December 31, 2025 |
| Who books rides | Hennepin Health Member Services, 612-596-1036 or 800-647-0550, weekdays 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. After hours, the nurse line at 888-859-0202 |
| Notice | Three days before the appointment, except urgent same-day care or a trip to the nearest emergency room |
| Authorization | Every taxi and special transportation ride, after the appointment is verified, and every non-emergency basic or advanced life support ambulance |
| Bus first | A ride instead of a bus pass needs a disability with a provider form renewed every three months, a verified same-day visit, more than three blocks to a stop, or three or more transfers |
| Standing rides | Monthly authorizations, as an exception and at a provider's request, for ongoing treatment such as dialysis |
| Claims | Electronic only, through a clearinghouse Hennepin Health works with, within 180 days of the ride. Payments go out weekly. |
| How to join | Enroll with Minnesota Health Care Programs, then email a contract request packet to HHNetworkManagement@hennepin.us. Review takes 60 to 90 days. |
| Network status | Its Join our network page lists only acupuncture, behavioral health, essential community providers, and federally qualified health centers as open (October 2026) |

Hennepin Health is the health plan Hennepin County runs for its own residents on Minnesota Health Care Programs. It calls itself Minnesota's only county-owned, state-certified health maintenance organization, and its provider manual describes it as a Hennepin County department. It had 32,723 members on December 31, 2025: 25,677 in PMAP, 3,539 in MinnesotaCare, and 3,507 in SNBC, its plan for adults with disabilities. Minnesota has no statewide ride broker, and each health plan arranges its own members' rides, as the [Minnesota guide](https://nemtguide.com/states/minnesota/) explains. Other metro plans run their own programs, such as [Medica's Provide-A-Ride](https://nemtguide.com/health-plans/medica-minnesota/). This page covers how Hennepin Health does it.

## How Hennepin Health books a ride

Hennepin Health books rides through its own Member Services staff. A member, or a clinic for its patient, calls 612-596-1036 or 800-647-0550, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at least three days before the appointment. The caller gives the date and time, the address and building name, and the member ID number. After hours, the plan points members to its nurse line at 888-859-0202.

Its Get a ride page lists the visits a ride can reach:

- Medical and dental appointments, and services such as glasses or medical equipment
- Physical therapy, mental health, and chemical dependency appointments
- Occupational therapy, acupuncture, and chiropractic appointments
- Social navigators or care guides, for SNBC members and anyone assigned one
- Health club or Touchstone Fitness Center visits
- Pharmacy pickups and WIC appointments

Fee-for-service Medical Assistance members in Hennepin County ride through a different system. [MTM Health](https://nemtguide.com/brokers/mtm-health/minnesota/) coordinates their rides for the county consortium, so a rider who leaves Hennepin Health for fee-for-service changes ride lines too.

### Bus passes come first

Hennepin Health starts with the bus. Its 2026 provider manual allows a 31-day pass for a member with four or more medical or dental appointments in 31 days, and single passes for everyone else. The 2026 PMAP and SNBC handbooks mail single-ride passes to members who live within three blocks of a bus stop, do not replace lost passes, and give no non-emergency rides to members with access to a private vehicle. A member holding a 31-day pass gets a taxi only for sedation or an emergency.

A taxi or special transportation ride goes only to members in one of four groups:

1. **A physical or mental disability.** The member's provider completes a Certification of Need for Exception from Public Transportation that says why the member cannot take a bus. It must be redone every three months.
2. **An acute same-day appointment** verified by the clinic or the Hennepin Health nurse line. A reminder call from the doctor does not count.
3. **More than three blocks** from a bus stop.
4. **Three or more transfers** on the bus trip to the clinic.

Before you take a standing order for a Hennepin Health rider, ask when the member's exception form was last signed, because the provider must renew it every three months.

## What each trip requires

Section 3.7 of the 2026 provider manual sets the rules a company works under:

- **Every taxi ride needs a service authorization**, and Hennepin Health verifies the medical appointment before it issues one.
- **Every special transportation ride needs a service authorization** too, after the same check.
- **Standing rides are an exception.** At a provider's request, Hennepin Health authorizes a month of rides for a member in ongoing treatment, such as dialysis.
- **Ambulances.** Non-emergency basic and advanced life support trips need authorization. Emergency ambulance and air transport do not.

The handbooks list the covered ride types as ambulance, volunteer driver, unassisted (taxi or public transit), assisted, lift-equipped or ramp, [protected](https://nemtguide.com/glossary/protected-transport/), and stretcher. Hennepin Health need not provide a ride to a primary care clinic more than 30 miles from home or to a chosen specialist more than 60 miles away. Mileage reimbursement, meals, lodging, and parking are not plan benefits; members ask the county or Tribal agency for those. MinnesotaCare members get rides only in the child (under 19) benefit set or while pregnant.

One more limit comes from the manual's Restricted Recipient Program section: when a restricted member also has Medicare, Hennepin Health can limit that member's transportation to designated providers, so check the restriction before you accept the trip.

### When a member joins Hennepin Health

The manual's continuity of care section protects riders who switch plans, and it gives companies outside the network a short window:

1. Hennepin Health honors a new member's prior special transportation certification or public transportation exemption for one year from enrollment. The member must hand over a copy before the first ride is scheduled.
2. A member already riding with a company outside the network can keep that company for 30 days. Hennepin Health then moves the rides to a contracted company.
3. To keep the rides longer, the need must reach Hennepin Health at least 14 days before the 30 days end.
4. A company outside the network needs [prior authorization](https://nemtguide.com/glossary/prior-authorization/) before each ride, must keep its Medicaid billing privileges, and accepts the lower of Hennepin Health's in-network rate or its own regular fee as payment in full.

## How to get a Hennepin Health contract

There are two gates. Hennepin Health's provider form says every provider must be enrolled with Minnesota Health Care Programs at DHS before it enrolls with the plan, and claims from providers who are not enrolled are denied. DHS is not enrolling new NEMT providers located in Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, or Washington County until January 27, 2027 ([the metro freeze](https://nemtguide.com/news/minnesota-metro-nemt-enrollment-freeze/)), so only a company already enrolled can start today.

1. **Check the open list.** As of October 2026, Hennepin Health's Join our network page says it is accepting acupuncture, behavioral health, essential community provider, and federally qualified health center applications. Transportation is not listed, and the plan says a request is no guarantee of a contract.
2. **Send the contract packet** to HHNetworkManagement@hennepin.us: the Contract Request Form (pick SNBC, PMAP and MinnesotaCare, or both), the Network Provider Information Form, a W-9 and ACH form, the disclosure of ownership form, the location and practitioner roster, and proof of your current Minnesota Secretary of State business filing.
3. **Wait 60 to 90 days.** The form promises a decision within 90 calendar days. Hennepin Health also credentials its providers under NCQA standards, and credentialing questions go to 612-543-5299.
4. **Do not drive before the contract date.** Hennepin Health assigns no retroactive credentialing dates, and claims for rides before the contract takes effect are processed out of network or denied.
5. **To serve one switching rider without a contract,** register as a non-contracted provider instead: the Non-Network Provider Information Form and a W-9 to the same address, which can take up to 45 business days.

For how plan credentialing works in general, see [contracting with Medicaid health plans](https://nemtguide.com/guides/contract-with-medicaid-health-plans/).

## How Hennepin Health pays

Hennepin Health follows the Minnesota Health Care Programs provider manual for coding and billing, so the state's transportation billing rules apply to its claims too. Your rate is in your contract. Claims must be electronic: under Minnesota Statutes 62J.536 the plan takes no paper, so you send 837P claims through one of the clearinghouses on its electronic transactions page, which also names a free web-based claim entry service.

- **Deadline.** File within 180 days of the ride, one calendar month of service per claim, at your usual and customary charge.
- **Corrections.** A reconsideration request is due within 180 days of the paid or denied date. Fax it to 612-321-3786 or mail it to the Adjustment Department.
- **Payment.** Weekly, by ACH if you enroll, or by a Hennepin County check. The plan must pay or deny a clean claim within 30 days, a clean claim paid late earns interest of 1.5% a month under Minnesota Statutes 62Q.75, and complex claims, such as replacement claims or claims with attachments, are paid or denied within 60 days.
- **Members.** You may not bill a member for a denied claim.

State law also calls for a statewide or regional NEMT administrator whose contract would cover plan members' rides, and a 2026 law requires DHS to give health plans six months' notice before it starts ([the delay](https://nemtguide.com/news/minnesota-nemt-administrator-delay/)). Until then, Hennepin Health keeps booking its own rides.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the Hennepin Health transportation phone number?

Members and clinics call Hennepin Health Member Services at 612-596-1036 or 800-647-0550 (TTY 800-627-3529), Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., as of October 2026. After hours, members call the nurse line at 888-859-0202. Ride companies and clinics reach Provider Services on the same 612-596-1036 line by pressing 2.

### How far ahead does a Hennepin Health ride have to be booked?

Three days before the appointment. The 2026 provider manual allows a same-day ride only for urgent care that is not life threatening or a trip to the nearest emergency room, and tells callers to use 911 for anything life threatening. Members who want a bus pass should ask five days ahead, because passes come by mail.

### Does Hennepin Health use MTM or another broker?

No. Hennepin Health Member Services verifies the appointment, authorizes the ride, and assigns it to a company it has contracted. MTM Health coordinates rides for Hennepin County residents on fee-for-service Medical Assistance, which is a different program. A rider who moves between the two changes ride systems too.

### Who qualifies for a Hennepin Health taxi or wheelchair ride instead of a bus pass?

The 2026 member handbooks for PMAP and SNBC list four groups: members with a physical or mental disability whose provider completes a Certification of Need for Exception from Public Transportation every three months, members with a verified acute same-day appointment, members living more than three blocks from a bus stop, and members whose bus trip takes three or more transfers. Members with access to a private vehicle get no non-emergency rides.

### Can a new Minneapolis ride company join Hennepin Health in 2026?

Not until it can enroll with the state. Hennepin Health's provider forms say every provider must be enrolled with Minnesota Health Care Programs before it enrolls with the plan, and DHS is not enrolling new NEMT providers located in Hennepin or the six other metro counties until January 27, 2027. A company already enrolled can send a contract request, but transportation is not on the plan's open list as of October 2026.

### I drove a member before they joined Hennepin Health. Can I keep driving them?

For 30 days from the member's first day with the plan, with prior authorization, if you keep your Medicaid billing privileges. Hennepin Health then moves the rides to a contracted company. If the member needs you longer, Hennepin Health must hear about it at least 14 days before the 30 days end. It pays the lower of its in-network rate or your regular fee.

## Official resources

- [Hennepin Health: Get a ride](https://www.hennepinhealth.org/members/get-a-ride)
- [Hennepin Health Provider Manual (2026)](https://www.hennepinhealth.org/-/media/hh/providers/provider-manual.pdf)
- [Hennepin Health: Request to be a contracted provider](https://www.hennepinhealth.org/providers/contracting)
- [Hennepin Health: Register as a non-contracted provider](https://www.hennepinhealth.org/providers/register-noncontracted)
- [Hennepin Health: Claims and billing](https://www.hennepinhealth.org/providers/claims-billing)