Home State Health Transportation: Who Gets Rides, School Trips, and Rides Beyond the Doctor in Missouri

Home State Health is one of the health plans in MO HealthNet, Missouri’s Medicaid program, and it also runs Show Me Healthy Kids, the plan for children in state care or custody, children with adoption or guardianship subsidies, and former foster youth under 26. At the end of June 2026, the state counted 314,952 members in Home State Health and 40,727 in Show Me Healthy Kids, about 35 percent of the 1,012,542 people in MO HealthNet managed care. By region, Home State had 109,439 members in the Eastern region around St. Louis, 76,848 in the Central region, 67,214 in the Western region around Kansas City, and 61,451 in the Southwest region.

MTM Health arranges every Home State ride. MTM also runs the state’s fee-for-service ride program, and its county travel limits, booking rules, and claim process for Missouri are on MTM Health in Missouri. That page also gives Home State’s ride lines and Show Me Healthy Kids’ extra rides. This page covers what Home State’s own handbook, manual, and flyers add.

Which Home State members get rides, and which do not

A member must be enrolled with Home State on the day of the appointment and have no other way to get there, such as their own car, a friend, or a relative. Home State’s provider manual, revised June 30, 2026, also covers rides to fee-for-service MO HealthNet services that are outside the plan’s own benefit package.

Some members have no ride benefit at all. The manual excludes members in eligibility (ME) codes 08, 52, 57, 73, 74, 75, 9S, and 97. Missouri’s Department of Mental Health explains who they are:

• 73, 74, and 75 are the MO HealthNet for Kids CHIP premium groups, which cover everything in the full benefit package except rides.
• 97 and 9S are Show Me Healthy Babies newborns, also in the CHIP premium program.
• 08, 52, and 57 are state-funded foster care, Division of Youth Services, and adoption subsidy groups.

The last group overlaps with Show Me Healthy Kids, so not every child in that plan has the ride benefit. If a family or a clinic asks you to drive one of these children privately, Home State will not pay for the ride. Check a member’s coverage before any trip that does not come from MTM; see eligibility verification.

The February 18, 2026 member handbook also lists rides Home State will not give because another program already provides them: some substance use treatment (CSTAR) and community psychiatric rehabilitation services, hospice, developmental disability waiver services, adult day care waiver services, and services delivered at home. School districts provide rides to a child’s IEP services. A trip to a medical equipment supplier is covered only when the supplier cannot mail or deliver the item.

Who can ride along

Riders under 17 must travel with an adult. When a child under 21 needs to stay away overnight or needs someone with them, the handbook pays for one child and one parent, guardian, or attendant, and no other children or adults. Home State’s transportation page says Show Me Healthy Kids parents and caregivers may bring other young children to appointments, yet that plan’s November 2025 handbook repeats the one-child limit, so read the trip details. Members supply their own car seats, per Home State’s November 2025 tip sheet. Check the trip details for who is riding before you seat extra children, and see children in NEMT.

Rides beyond the doctor’s office

Home State’s rides reach well past the doctor’s office, including some places regular NEMT does not cover. Its transportation page, approved February 24, 2025, lists places that members who have the ride benefit can ride to when they call at least three days ahead:

• Recovery and care. Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, counseling, therapies, eye exams, the pharmacy, and hospital visits.
• Family. Childbirth classes, daycare, and WIC appointments.
• Work and school. Job interviews, work and employment services, and education or trade school.
• Everyday needs. Grocery stores and community resources such as clothing drives, utility help, food pantries, and shelter or housing help.

Same-day rides go to primary care, OB visits during pregnancy, and behavioral health follow-ups within seven days of a hospital stay, booked two to three hours ahead. The page limits same-day specialty and dental rides, and rides to court, family visits, and child welfare meetings, to Show Me Healthy Kids members. The February 2026 handbook describes the same extras for Home State members under the name Enhanced Transportation Services Program, so ask MTM which rule applies before you plan around them.

School rides and the school stop

Rides to and from school or classes, from kindergarten through college, need prior authorization from Home State’s Care Management team; see prior authorization. Separately, a parent or caregiver riding to a doctor visit or a pharmacy can add a stop to pick children up at school first. Both mean a member’s trip may carry a school address, so check the stops and the approval before your driver goes.

Rideshare and gas money

Home State’s page says members who have the ride benefit can use rideshare for non-emergency medical visits such as doctor and therapy appointments and lab tests, so a short trip may go to a rideshare driver instead of your van. Members who drive themselves or get a ride from a friend can get gas money, but the handbook requires approval before the appointment, and the claim goes to MTM within 60 days; see mileage reimbursement.

What Home State tells riders about pickups

Home State’s November 10, 2025 tip sheet sets riders’ expectations, and they will hold your drivers to it:

• Be ready 5 minutes early. Riders are told the driver waits 5 minutes after the pickup time.
• Answer the confirmation call. The ride company will call to verify the trip, and a rider who does not answer may have the trip canceled.
• No-shows add up. Riders are warned that too many no-shows could affect future rides.
• Late rides go to MTM. A rider calls MTM at 1-866-455-2097 after waiting more than 15 minutes past the pickup time, or more than an hour after asking for a return ride that was not set at booking.

Your pay rules for a no-show come from your MTM agreement, not the tip sheet, so check them on MTM Health in Missouri. Home State’s provider manual asks its providers, its transportation vendor included, to tell Member Services when a member misses a ride, so it can follow up with the member. Log every confirmation call and every arrival time; the no-show entry and how to reduce no-shows cover the rest.

How to get Home State trips

Missouri’s NEMT manual, posted April 2026, says transportation companies are not enrolled as MO HealthNet providers, and the state’s NEMT page sends companies to MTM. So the way into Home State work is an MTM agreement; MTM Health in Missouri and the MTM Health guide cover the application, insurance, and the driver app.

1. Get your Missouri registrations. The Missouri guide covers company setup, MoDOT authority, and driver checks.
2. Apply to MTM and say which regions and levels of service you can cover.
3. Learn the school and same-day rules, since Home State’s extra trips are where its work differs from fee-for-service rides.
4. Expect MTM to assign the trips. Home State’s handbook tells members they do not choose the company that gives the ride, so there is no member list to market to. The work comes through MTM.
5. Mark June 30, 2027. The MO HealthNet managed care contract runs from July 1, 2022 through that date, so watch for the state’s next decision on plans.

Ambulance companies have two more rules. The handbook covers an ambulance trip from one facility to another only when it is medically necessary and arranged and approved by a Home State network provider, and it does not cover an ambulance to the emergency room when there is no emergency. The provider manual has ambulance claims filed on a CMS-1500.

Who to call

For	Contact
Booking or checking on a member’s ride, any hour	MTM, 1-866-455-2097 (TTY 711)
Home State Member Services	1-855-694-4663 (TTY 711), weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central
Show Me Healthy Kids Member Services	1-877-236-1020 (TTY 711)
School ride approval, Home State	Care Management, 1-855-694-4663, extension 6075125
School ride approval, Show Me Healthy Kids	Care Management, 1-877-236-1020, extension 6080448
Rider complaints	Care Management at the extensions above, or MTM We Care Line, 866-436-0457
Joining the network	MTM’s Missouri transportation provider page

The other MO HealthNet plans, Healthy Blue and UnitedHealthcare, also send their rides to MTM; their lines are on MTM Health in Missouri.