Louisiana Healthcare Connections Transportation: MediTrans Rides, Ride Rules, and How LHCC Claims Get Paid

Louisiana Healthcare Connections (LHCC) is the largest Healthy Louisiana health plan. LDH’s enrollment count effective July 2026 shows 368,494 LHCC members, about 30 percent of the program’s 1,211,453. Every LHCC Medicaid ride goes through one broker, MediTrans of Lafayette, which took over NEMT and non-emergency ambulance trips in all 64 parishes on May 1, 2025, after LHCC’s contract with MTM ended on April 30. Louisiana’s statewide rules for plates, insurance, drivers, and vans are in the Louisiana guide, and MediTrans’s onboarding and trip standards are on the MediTrans page.

Who books LHCC rides

Members call the LHCC ride line, 1-855-369-3723 (TTY 711), Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. LHCC’s April 1, 2025 notice kept that number when MediTrans took over, so riders who booked with MTM call the same line today. As of October 2026, LHCC’s transportation page and its member handbook, revised January 28, 2026, set these rules:

• Notice. At least 48 hours before a routine visit, with weekends not counted, and no more than 30 days ahead. A later request may be denied.
• Exceptions. Urgent care rides are booked on the same line 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A same-day referral, when one provider sends the member to another that day, also skips the 48 hours.
• Rides home. Members book the return with MediTrans, never by calling the driver, and LHCC promises a pickup no later than two hours after the request.
• Text alerts. Members can sign up for a reminder text and a text when the driver is on the way.

Facilities book their own way. To send a member home after a discharge order, including from the emergency room, the facility calls MediTrans at 1-844-349-4324, and the ride needs no approval. LHCC’s provider manual, last revised August 2026, says discharges are transported within three hours of the facility’s call. For a member who cannot get out of bed, walk, or sit in a chair or wheelchair, the facility books a non-emergency ambulance through MediTrans at least 48 hours ahead and sends Louisiana’s Certification of Ambulance Transportation form first (MediTrans fax 337-366-6760).

What riders are told about pickup

LHCC tells members to be ready two hours before the appointment, since the driver may come anytime in that window, and says the driver will wait only 10 minutes and may not go into a home or facility. MediTrans’s provider hub, updated June 12, 2026, tells drivers to wait 15 minutes at a home and 20 at a facility, then call the member and dispatch before marking a no-show. Work to the longer MediTrans wait, and log your arrival time and each call.

Members may bring one companion. Parents bring their own car seat, and a child without one is turned away at pickup. Riders bring their own wheelchair, walker, or other equipment and should mention it when they book. Drivers may not ask for a copay or any payment, and LHCC tells members to report a driver who does.

Who qualifies and how far rides go

The benefit covers members with no ride of their own, and a member with a working vehicle does not qualify. It covers trips to any Medicaid service, including care LHCC does not pay for itself, such as children’s dental visits. Members living in a nursing facility get routine rides from the facility, although their non-emergency ambulance trips still go through LHCC.

Some members ride through LHCC while Medicare or another payer covers their medical care. LHCC’s provider manual says members with both Medicare and Medicaid, and LaHIPP members, are enrolled in a plan for specialized behavioral health and NEMT, including non-emergency ambulance, unless they live in an institution. A dual-eligible dialysis patient whose treatments Medicare pays can still be on your LHCC manifest. Wellcare’s Medicare members are a separate case: LHCC’s February 25, 2025 notice said Wellcare would keep MTM for Medicare rides.

Distance limits

LHCC’s provider manual says rides should stay within Louisiana’s access distances, and any trip over 30 miles one way to a provider, or over 60 miles to a specialist, needs LHCC’s approval. The member asks MediTrans, which requests the approval from LHCC. The manual’s distances, one way:

Destination	Urban parish	Rural parish
Primary care provider	10 miles	30 miles
Hospital	10 miles	30 miles
Pharmacy	10 miles	30 miles
Hemodialysis	10 miles	30 miles
Lab or radiology	20 miles	30 miles
Specialist	60 miles	60 miles

The member handbook uses the primary care distances as the ride limit: past 10 miles in an urban parish or 30 in a rural one, a member needs LHCC’s approval or a ride of their own. LDH’s map of urban and rural parishes, linked from the handbook, decides which column a rider falls in.

Rides LHCC adds, and rides that compete with yours

LHCC adds rides to places that support health but are not medical visits: food pantries, pharmacies, WIC appointments, and LHCC’s Community Wellness Centers. Its provider manual limits these rides to members in care management, subject to availability, and riders under 17 travel with an adult.

Two cheaper options take some trips off the board. A member within walking distance of a bus stop may get a one-month bus pass, and a friend or relative who lives at another address can enroll with MediTrans as a gas reimbursement driver. LDH’s provider resources page, as of October 2026, tells plans to schedule public transit first and gas reimbursement second, before companies like yours, and the fee schedule effective October 1, 2025 pays gas reimbursement (A0090) at 36 cents a mile.

How a van company gets LHCC trips

You do not contract with LHCC for rides. LHCC’s February 25, 2025 notice told transportation companies they had to be contracted with MediTrans to keep serving its members after April 30, 2025, so the door is a MediTrans agreement: email a letter of intent to providers@meditrans.com and follow the steps on the MediTrans page. LDH also requires every NEMT provider to register in the Louisiana Medicaid Provider Enrollment Portal, which the Louisiana guide walks through.

LDH’s medical transportation provider resources page, as of October 2026, lets you hold a MediTrans agreement and a Verida agreement for fee-for-service rides at the same time, but it does not require MediTrans to accept every applicant (see working with more than one broker). MediTrans may pay more than the state NEMT fee schedule but not less, and the schedule effective October 1, 2025 pays $13.50 plus $1.10 a mile for an ambulatory trip leg (T2003) and $21.50 plus $1.30 a mile for a wheelchair van (A0130), with miles counted from zero.

The MediTrans provider handbook filed with LDH for LHCC in April 2025 adds that MediTrans pays every transportation provider the same rate, pays no special rates or deadhead, and gives more trips to the providers that perform best. Ask for the rate sheet by service level before you sign.

Healthy Blue members arriving January 1, 2027

Healthy Blue leaves Healthy Louisiana after December 31, 2026. Under LDH’s Informational Bulletin 26-12, published September 1, 2026, its members, 289,871 in the July 2026 count, choose a new plan from October 15 to November 16, 2026, or are assigned one, effective January 1, 2027. The state’s eligibility system shows the new plan by November 23, 2026. Because every plan uses MediTrans, standing ride orders move with the member and stay in place. Check the plan on each trip from January 1, since an LHCC trip carries LHCC’s longer appeal window.

How LHCC trip claims are paid

MediTrans pays LHCC trips under a claims policy filed with LDH for LHCC, revised February 24, 2025. Its main rules:

• A clean claim. Your company name, the date of service, the driver’s name and signature, the last four digits of the VIN, the member’s name, Medicaid ID, and signature, the trip ID, and the pickup and drop-off times.
• Filing deadline. 365 days from the date of service. When a member’s eligibility is granted back in time, you have until the later of 365 days from service or 180 days from the day the member was linked to MediTrans.
• Speed. MediTrans must screen each claim within five business days, pay or deny 90 percent of clean claims within 15 calendar days and all of them within 30, and settle pended claims within 60 days.
• Interest. A payable clean claim still unpaid after 30 days earns 12 percent a year, figured daily and paid with the claim.
• Rejected claims. A claim rejected for missing information never enters the claims system, so it is not on your remittance advice. The portal shows its status and reason, and it stays open for the rest of the 365 days so you can fix it.
• Pay days. The policy calls for at least one payment cycle a week, with checks printed on Wednesday and sent on Friday, or the day before a Friday holiday. MediTrans’s provider hub, updated June 12, 2026, says clean claims are paid every other Friday, so ask which schedule your agreement follows. An uncashed check is voided after 180 days.
• Overpayments. MediTrans notifies you by certified mail and gives you 30 days to ask for reconsideration, or 60 days with supporting documents when the finding comes from a special investigations unit review.

Claim questions go to MediTrans at 1-844-349-4326, option 9, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For the habits behind a clean claim, see how to bill NEMT brokers, clean claims, and the trip log template.

Appeals: twice the time for LHCC trips

Louisiana’s Informational Bulletin 21-02, revised September 8, 2026, sets one dispute path for every plan’s NEMT claims, and the MediTrans page walks through each step. Two parts differ for an LHCC trip:

• A longer appeal window. Once MediTrans decides your reconsideration request, you have 180 calendar days from that decision to appeal to appeals@meditrans.com. Aetna, AmeriHealth Caritas, Healthy Blue, and Humana trips get 90.
• LHCC’s complaint team. If MediTrans’s own escalation at director@meditrans.com does not settle it, the next step is LHCC: 1-866-595-8133, providercomplaints@louisianahealthconnect.com, or Louisiana Healthcare Connections, Attn: Provider Complaints, P.O. Box 84180, Baton Rouge, LA 70884. LDH comes after that, at MedicaidTransportation@la.gov or 225-333-7473, with every earlier attempt listed.

Louisiana law also offers an outside review of a denied claim. Its first form goes to LHCC within 180 days of the remittance, denial, or recoupment date. See how to appeal a denied claim.

Who to call

For	Contact
A member’s ride	1-855-369-3723 (TTY 711), weekdays 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., urgent care around the clock
Discharges and facility bookings	MediTrans, 1-844-349-4324
Joining the network	providers@meditrans.com, or 1-844-349-4326, option 5 for LHCC
Claim status and payments	MediTrans, 1-844-349-4326, option 9, or billing@meditrans.com
Provider complaints	LHCC, 1-866-595-8133 or providercomplaints@louisianahealthconnect.com
Benefit questions	LHCC Member Services, 1-866-595-8133 (TTY 711), weekdays 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
State escalation	LDH, MedicaidTransportation@la.gov

Before you send your letter of intent, ask MediTrans which parishes and vehicle types need LHCC coverage now, and have your parish list and vehicle and driver counts ready.