Keystone First Transportation: MATP for Van Rides, MTM for Stretcher and Ambulance Trips

Keystone First is a Medical Assistance (Medicaid) health plan that serves only the five counties of Pennsylvania’s HealthChoices Southeast zone, and its July 2026 provider manual counts more than 400,000 members there. It books almost none of those members’ rides itself. Van and wheelchair riders go to each county’s Medical Assistance Transportation Program (MATP), and stretcher and ambulance riders go to MTM. The Pennsylvania guide explains MATP and its licensing. Below is the Keystone First side: which ride goes where, the phone lines, and how your company ends up carrying these members.

Who arranges each Keystone First ride

Two notices to hospitals and health systems set the split. The first, dated October 24, 2024, brought Keystone First CHC under the same rules from November 15, 2024. The second, dated April 2, 2026, kept the split and changed how hospital ambulance trips are approved.

Ride	Who books it (September 2026)	How
Cab, taxi, van, or wheelchair van	The member’s county MATP office	The county lines in the next table
Stretcher, basic life support, or advanced life support ambulance	MTM	1-844-879-7345, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, holidays included
Emergency	911 or the local ambulance service	Never MATP
Rides for nursing home residents	The nursing facility	Arranged by the facility with the resident

Both notices say the facility makes the call, not the transportation company. The 2024 notice warns that calls from transportation providers to Keystone First or MTM asking for a trip may slow the request down. Your company gets a Keystone First trip from MATP, from MTM, or, for an ambulance trip leaving a hospital, from the hospital itself if you are in MTM’s network.

Keystone First’s own ride duty is narrow. Its 2026 member handbook says it covers non-emergency rides only for nursing home residents and for specialized trips such as a stretcher, plus emergency and non-emergency ambulance. Its July 2026 provider manual adds that it is not financially responsible for MATP rides. When neither MATP nor Keystone First can do a trip, the handbook sends the request to the member’s County Assistance Office to review for a Medical Transportation Allowance.

Which MATP office books Keystone First van rides

Every Keystone First member lives in one of five counties, and each county buys its paratransit differently. The rider lines below are the ones Keystone First prints in its 2026 member handbook, and they match the DHS contact list updated June 18, 2026.

County	Who runs MATP	Rider line	When rides run (June 2026)
Philadelphia	Modivcare, the city’s MATP broker	1-877-835-7412	Weekdays 4 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday 4 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday dialysis only
Montgomery	TransNet	215-542-7433	Monday to Saturday, 5 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Bucks	Bucks County Transport	215-794-5554 or 1-888-795-0740	Weekdays, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Delaware	DELGO Community Transit, under county contract	610-490-3960	Every day, 4 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Chester	The county’s Community Transit (Chesco Connect)	610-344-5545	Weekdays 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Saturday dialysis only

A wheelchair or ambulatory company reaches Keystone First riders only through one of these five programs. In Philadelphia that means Modivcare’s network, and each county page above explains how that program buys rides and what it asks of carriers. The Southeast zone has four other physical health plans as of September 2026: Geisinger Health Plan, Jefferson Health Plans EverWell, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan, and UPMC for You. MATP carries the routine rides for all five, so one county contract reaches all of them.

Stretcher and ambulance trips go to MTM

Keystone First sends every non-emergency ambulance and stretcher trip to MTM (Medical Transportation Management). The April 2, 2026 bulletin gives each Keystone First plan its own MTM scheduling line:

Keystone First plan	MTM line (April 2026)
Keystone First (HealthChoices Medicaid)	1-844-879-7345
Keystone First Community HealthChoices (CHC)	1-855-540-7063
Keystone First VIP Choice	1-877-917-4146

Hospital trips approved after the ride, since January 1, 2026

From January 1, 2026, a non-emergency ambulance trip that starts at a hospital or medical facility can be authorized after it happens. The facility checks the patient’s coverage, then schedules the trip directly with an ambulance company that MTM has approved and contracted. It keeps a physician’s clinical assessment of why the patient needs an ambulance and a completed physician certification statement. A trip that starts at a private home or any other non-hospital location still goes through MTM, and MTM steps in when a facility cannot find an available ambulance.

For an ambulance company, this makes MTM’s network the entry ticket and puts the choice of company with the discharge planners at Southeast hospitals. See hospital discharge transportation for how those relationships work, and NEMT vs. ambulance for where a stretcher van ends and an ambulance begins.

When Keystone First pays for an ambulance

The July 2026 provider manual says Keystone First coordinates and pays for medically necessary ambulance trips for physical, psychiatric, and behavioral health care, using ambulance providers it has contracted with across the five counties. A trip qualifies when, for example, a van, taxi, or private car is physically impossible or would endanger the member, the member needs restraints or life support on the way, or there is reason to suspect a serious internal or head injury.

Non-ambulance rides to behavioral health appointments go through MATP. For those MATP does not cover, the manual points members to their county’s behavioral health plan: Magellan Behavioral Health in Bucks and Montgomery, Community Care Behavioral Health in Chester and Delaware, and Community Behavioral Health in Philadelphia.

Keystone First CHC and VIP Choice

Keystone First runs two more plans in the same five counties, and each rides a little differently.

• Keystone First Community HealthChoices. It serves adults 21 and older who have both Medicare and Medicaid or get long-term services and supports through Medicaid. Its stretcher and ambulance trips go to MTM at 1-855-540-7063 and its other medical rides to MATP. Under the Community HealthChoices agreement dated January 1, 2026, every Community HealthChoices plan must pay ambulance providers no less than the Medical Assistance fee schedule. It must also give non-medical rides, to shopping, worship, work, and community activities, to participants who need a nursing facility level of care, as each person’s service plan authorizes.
• Keystone First VIP Choice. This is Keystone First’s Medicare plan for members with both Medicare and Medicaid in the five counties. Its 2026 evidence of coverage adds 12 one-way trips a year to plan-approved places such as a doctor’s office, pharmacy, or hospital, by car, shuttle, or van. Each trip is capped at 50 miles and booked at least one business day ahead. The April 2026 bulletin says a Medicare Advantage ride benefit like this may be used before the Medicaid benefit.

How a ride company gets Keystone First trips

1. Get Public Utility Commission authority. Paratransit authority covers wheelchair and stretcher vans. The Pennsylvania guide has the application, fee, and timeline.
2. For van and wheelchair riders, contract with MATP. Pick your counties from the table above and follow that county’s page. Rates are set county by county, with no state fee schedule.
3. For stretcher and ambulance riders, join MTM. The MTM guide walks through its application, and MTM in Pennsylvania covers its work here.
4. Enroll in Medical Assistance before contracting with Keystone First directly. Keystone First’s provider pages say every provider must be enrolled in Pennsylvania Medicaid before it pays a claim, and a new group starts by emailing Keystone First’s contracting application.
5. Meet the discharge planners. Southeast hospitals now book Keystone First ambulance trips that start at the hospital themselves, choosing among MTM’s contracted companies. See facility contracts.
6. Never call to ask for trips. Keystone First’s notices tell facilities, not ride companies, to request transport.

Who to call

For	Contact (as of September 2026)
Keystone First stretcher or ambulance trip	MTM, 1-844-879-7345, around the clock
Keystone First CHC stretcher or ambulance trip	MTM, 1-855-540-7063
Keystone First VIP Choice non-emergency ambulance	MTM, 1-877-917-4146
Van or wheelchair ride	The county MATP line in the table above
Keystone First Provider Services	1-800-521-6007
Keystone First Member Services	1-800-521-6860 (TTY 1-800-684-5505)
Rapid Response and Enhanced Member Supports Unit	1-800-573-4100

What to do first

1. Choose your trips. Van and wheelchair riders come from MATP, and stretcher and ambulance riders come from MTM.
2. Call the MATP office in each county you cover and ask how it adds carriers.
3. Apply to MTM if you run stretcher vans or ambulances in the five counties.
4. Log every leg on a trip log so each trip matches the program that paid for it.