Iowa Total Care Transportation: MTM Rides, 90-Day Booking for Dialysis and Chemo, and Waiver Trips

Iowa Total Care is one of the three IA Health Link plans, and its contract with Iowa HHS started July 1, 2025 and runs through June 30, 2029, with room for one two-year extension. Its members book every ride through MTM Health, the same broker Iowa HHS lists for Molina, Wellpoint, and fee-for-service members as of October 2026. Iowa’s NEMT rule, the DOT passenger certificate, and MTM’s application steps are in the Iowa guide. This page covers what Iowa Total Care adds on top: its booking windows, its ride standards, its gas and overnight rules, and its waiver rides.

Who books Iowa Total Care rides

MTM Health has run the plan’s rides since September 19, 2025, when Access2Care became MTM Health. The slides from Iowa Medicaid’s October 2, 2025 member town hall, posted by Iowa HHS, say the ride benefit, the network of transportation companies, and the booking numbers all stayed the same. Only the member app and the name on forms and letters changed.

Members book in one of two ways:

• By phone. 1-877-271-4819. The plan’s 2026 member handbook lists the line’s hours as Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central.
• In the MTM Link app. Members register with their member ID, date of birth, home address, email, and phone number, then request, track, and cancel rides there.

How far ahead members book

The plan’s transportation page sets three windows as of October 2026:

1. At least two working days ahead for a routine visit.
2. Up to 30 days ahead for most visits.
3. Up to 90 days ahead for dialysis, chemotherapy, and radiation.

The 90-day window goes past Iowa’s rule, 441 IAC 78.13, which lets members give no more than 30 days’ notice. For your company, it means an Iowa Total Care member’s treatment series can sit on MTM’s schedule three months out, which is the steady work the dialysis transportation guide describes.

Urgent trips can be booked with less than two days’ notice, and MTM may call the doctor’s office to confirm the need. The plan’s brochure lists sick visits, hospital discharges, trips to or from urgent care, infusion, dialysis, and other life-sustaining care, pharmacy trips, and follow-ups within 24 hours of a discharge. See hospital discharge transportation.

Who qualifies for Iowa Total Care rides

Two groups of Iowa Total Care members ride:

• IA Health Link members. These are the plan’s regular Medicaid members.
• Medically exempt Wellness Plan members. Iowa HHS decides who is medically exempt. The plan’s page names a disabling mental disorder such as serious mental illness, a chronic substance use disorder, a serious and complex medical condition, a disability that limits daily activities, or a Social Security disability determination.

Hawki members and Wellness Plan members who are not medically exempt get no rides from the plan. The brochure adds two more exceptions: visits to a newborn in the NICU, and appointments within 30 miles of a nursing home for its residents, which the nursing home must arrange. Iowa has proposed rides for every Wellness Plan member from January 1, 2027; see Iowa’s expansion adults proposal.

Iowa Total Care’s ride standards

These standards shape every Iowa Total Care trip on your manifest, as of October 2026:

• Drop-off. Within 15 minutes of the scheduled appointment time, per the 2026 member handbook.
• Return trip. The member calls MTM after the visit, MTM tells the transportation company the member is ready, and the pickup comes within 60 minutes of the appointment ending.
• Urgent rides. The brochure says drivers pick up within 60 minutes of the request.
• Pickup places. The plan’s March 2026 provider manual allows pickups and drop-offs at the member’s home, work, or school, before and after a doctor or pharmacy visit.
• Riders under 16. Members 16 or older, or emancipated, ride alone. Members 12 to 15 ride alone only with a signed parent or guardian waiver, and a minor parent going to their own child’s appointment may travel alone. Every other minor rides with an adult at least 21 years old. See transporting children in NEMT.
• Companions and equipment. The member tells MTM when booking about a wheelchair, walker, cane, or service animal, one adult family member, friend, or caregiver, and any children riding along. See escorts and caregivers.
• No fares. Drivers may ask to see the member’s Iowa Total Care ID card, and members never pay for the ride.

Gas money, bus passes, and overnight trips

Not every Iowa Total Care trip goes to a van. The plan’s other ways to get members to care, as of October 2026:

• Gas money. The member tells MTM before the appointment. The brochure sets the rate at 30 cents a mile over the shortest mapped route, for a licensed driver 18 or older. No claim form is needed, and MTM pays within 30 days. See mileage reimbursement.
• Bus passes. A member with more than two medical appointments a month who lives near a bus route can get an unlimited monthly pass.
• Meals and lodging. The plan’s policy, version 1.4 of March 11, 2025, pays only when the visit is outside the member’s county and more than 50 miles away one way, and only for a trip booked through MTM. In Iowa, meals are capped at $8 for breakfast, $10 for lunch, and $19 for dinner, including tax and tip.

Overnight trips need planning on both sides. Lodging must be approved when the trip is booked with MTM, and the policy caps a room at $93 in Omaha, $95 in Rochester, Minnesota, and $77 elsewhere. A medically necessary escort can claim too when the doctor signs the form. Claims go to MTM within 120 days of the visit, and MTM pays by mailed check 10 to 20 business days after it gets a complete form. For pricing long runs, see long-distance medical transport.

Waiver rides run through MTM too

Members on four home and community based services waivers can get more rides when their case manager writes them into the service plan: the intellectual disability, elderly, brain injury, and physical disability waivers. These rides go to business errands, essential shopping, work or day programs, and activities that reduce social isolation.

The 2026 member handbook says the case manager:

1. Works with the member and care team to set the number of trips or miles.
2. Sends the authorization to MTM so the trips can be scheduled.
3. Arranges the rides with the member’s chosen transportation company through MTM, for recurring and one-time trips.

The member chooses, so case managers and the families they serve decide which company gets this work. The plan’s guide for waiver transportation providers, written when the plan’s waiver rides began on July 1, 2019 and still posted in October 2026, adds the working rules: rides that are not authorized are not paid and cannot be billed to the member, a provider whose rider reaches the authorized number of rides or dollars asks the case manager for more, and the member cancels directly with the provider. It also tells providers to check eligibility after the 3rd of each month on Iowa Medicaid’s eligibility line, ELVS, at 1-800-338-7752 (515-323-9639 in Des Moines). That guide still names Access2Care, so confirm the current claims steps with MTM. The waiver transportation guide explains how waiver rides differ from NEMT.

How to get Iowa Total Care trips

1. Get your Iowa DOT passenger certificate. The Iowa guide walks through the application, form 441052, and the insurance it needs.
2. Join MTM Health’s Iowa network. MTM sets rates with each company, pays nothing for no-shows, and wants general and auto liability naming MTM plus workers’ compensation. MTM’s Iowa provider pages describe its fee-for-service network, so ask your representative to confirm in writing that your agreement covers IA Health Link plan trips too. The MTM Health guide covers the company in its other states.
3. Add waiver rides. Enroll with Iowa Medicaid as a waiver transportation provider (the Iowa guide explains how an NEMT broker contract qualifies you), then send your approval letter to the plan’s Network Management team at NetworkManagement@IowaTotalCare.com, as its Become a Provider page directs. Then introduce your company to the plan’s community-based case managers.
4. Ambulance companies contract with the plan. Iowa Total Care pays ambulance claims itself. Ask for a contract through its online Contract Request Form or the Network Management email. Its March 2026 provider manual requires a two-letter origin and destination modifier on every ambulance base rate code except the GEMT code, A0999. Its handbook covers an ambulance trip from one facility to another only when it is medically necessary and arranged and approved by an in-network provider.

Who to call

For	Contact (October 2026)
Book, change, or cancel a ride	MTM Health, 1-877-271-4819
Fee-for-service Medicaid riders	MTM Health, 1-866-572-7662
Member and Provider Services	Iowa Total Care, 1-833-404-1061 (TTY 711)
Joining the plan’s network	NetworkManagement@IowaTotalCare.com
Checking Medicaid eligibility	ELVS, 1-800-338-7752 or 515-323-9639
Molina and Wellpoint riders	MTM Health, 866-849-2062 (Molina) or 844-544-1389 (Wellpoint)

MTM books Molina and Wellpoint riders on their own lines. For the rules that differ in another plan, see Wellpoint Iowa transportation.