Texas Children's Health Plan Transportation: SafeRide Rides, Rules for Young Riders, and How to Get Trips

Texas Children’s Health Plan was founded in Houston by Texas Children’s Hospital, and it covers Medicaid and CHIP members in the Houston and Beaumont areas and, for STAR Kids, in Northeast Texas. STAR covers low-income children, pregnant women, and families, and STAR Kids covers children and young adults 20 and younger with disabilities, so many trips turn on who may ride with the member and who brings the car seat. How Texas runs Medicaid rides through each plan’s vendor is in the Texas guide, and SafeRide’s other Texas plans are on SafeRide Health in Texas.

Where Texas Children’s riders live

The plan works in three of HHSC’s 13 managed care service areas. HHSC’s map of the plans serving each area in September 2026 shows these programs:

Service area	Counties	Texas Children’s programs
Harris	Austin, Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Matagorda, Montgomery, Waller, and Wharton	STAR, STAR Kids, CHIP
Jefferson	Chambers, Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Newton, Orange, Polk, San Jacinto, Tyler, and Walker	STAR, STAR Kids, CHIP
MRSA Northeast	34 counties, among them Smith, Gregg, Bowie, Angelina, Nacogdoches, Grayson, and Lamar	STAR Kids only

HHSC’s preliminary count for May 2026 put about 428,000 members in the plan: about 372,000 in STAR, 30,000 in CHIP, and 26,000 in STAR Kids. Only Superior had more STAR Kids members statewide. About 378,000 of the plan’s members live in the Harris area, more than any other plan there, where Community Health Choice had about 248,000 and UnitedHealthcare about 191,000. MRSA Northeast held about 4,800 of its STAR Kids members.

Where one SafeRide contract reaches every STAR Kids child

In the Jefferson area and MRSA Northeast, Texas Children’s and UnitedHealthcare are the only STAR Kids plans on the September 2026 map, and both book rides through SafeRide. A SafeRide agreement there reaches every STAR Kids member who needs a ride, from Orange County to Smith County. STAR and CHIP are mixed in both the Harris and Jefferson areas: Community Health Choice and Wellpoint members ride with MTM Health, and in Harris so do Wellpoint’s STAR Kids members. A Houston or Beaumont company that wants every plan’s trips needs both vendors. See UnitedHealthcare’s Texas ride benefit, Wellpoint in Texas, and working with several brokers.

How Texas Children’s members book rides

Rule	Texas Children’s Health Plan
Line	888-583-0110. TTY 711 on SafeRide’s page, or 800-735-2989 in the plan’s handbooks
Hours	6 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday to Saturday, on SafeRide’s page for the plan. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central on weekdays in the plan’s August 2026 STAR and STAR Kids handbooks
First ride or a new place	By phone only. Later rides may be booked in SafeRide’s app
Notice	Two business days inside the service area, five business days for care outside it
Less notice allowed	Hospital discharges, pharmacy pickups of medicine or approved supplies, and urgent conditions that need care within 24 hours
What the caller gives	Member ID, date of birth, the doctor’s name and address, the appointment date and time, the number of attendants, language needs, and the vehicle needed
Vehicles	Wheelchair lift vehicles, stretcher vans, minivans, and ambulatory vans, on a space available basis. SafeRide picks the vehicle and may choose public transit
Stops	Only the approved medical location and back home

The plan spells the notice rule out with Mondays: a Monday visit inside the service area must be booked by the Thursday before, and one outside it by the Tuesday of the week before. Members cannot ask for a specific make or model of vehicle. For how booking windows shape your week, see advance notice.

Old papers still list MTM

The plan’s STAR and CHIP provider manual dated September 1, 2026 still names MTM for rides and value-added rides, at 1-888-401-0170 and a local line, 346-232-4130. MTM took calls for the plan only through December 14, 2025. Pediatric offices and clinics that copy numbers from the manual may still dial it, so leave them the SafeRide line when you visit. Our guide to facility contracts covers that outreach.

What your driver checks on a Texas Children’s run

The plan posts its own two forms for young riders. Parents send both to SafeRide by fax at 888-432-0026 or by mail to its San Antonio office.

Children 14 and younger

• They always ride with a parent, guardian, or attendant.
• An adult who is not the parent or guardian must be named on the Parental Accompaniment Form. The parent lists up to two authorized attendants with addresses and phone numbers, and swears none of them is the child’s Medicaid doctor, works for that provider, or is paid by it.
• Before that adult rides, the form must be on file with SafeRide or handed to your driver at pickup, and the adult must show your driver a photo ID.

Teens 15 to 17

• A teen may ride without an adult once a parent or legal guardian signs the Parental Consent Form and sends it before rides are set up. It lasts until the parent cancels it in writing.
• Emancipated teens may ride alone.
• The August 2026 STAR handbook says no parental consent is needed when the care is confidential.

Attendants and extra riders

A member may bring one approved family member or attendant. A second one rides only when it is medically needed and SafeRide approves it. Parents and legal guardians may ride with any member under 18 without extra approval. Note on your trip log who rode and which form you saw. More on this in escorts and caregivers.

Car seats, waits, and returns

Texas Children’s tells families to provide and install any child restraint Texas law requires, and says the ride will not be completed without one. The state’s NEMT handbook, chapter 16.4 of the Uniform Managed Care Manual (version 2.0.1), bars your driver from installing or securing a child safety seat. When a child needs a seat and none is ready at pickup, the trip is cancelled and recorded as a member no-show. See children in NEMT for seat laws and escort rules.

The plan tells members your driver waits 10 minutes before leaving, and that a return pickup comes within one hour of the call. Plan your will-call trips around that one-hour window.

Extra rides and travel money

The plan pays for some rides the state does not require, which HHSC’s comparison charts list as value-added services. SafeRide books them along with covered rides.

Program	What the plan adds	HHSC chart
STAR	Rides to Texas Children’s classes and events, on top of Medicaid rides to doctors, dentists, and pharmacies	Harris STAR chart dated September 1, 2026
STAR Kids	Rides to doctor and dental visits, the pharmacy, and plan classes and events	Harris chart dated October 1, 2025 and MRSA Northeast chart dated September 1, 2025
CHIP	Rides to doctor and dental visits, the pharmacy, and plan classes and events	Harris and Jefferson CHIP charts dated September 1, 2026

The CHIP handbook dated August 2026 offers these rides for the benefit year from September 1, 2026 to August 31, 2027.

Members 20 and younger on a long trip can get $25 a day for meals, $25 more for an approved attendant, and an overnight stay, under the August 2026 STAR handbook. STAR and STAR Kids members under 20 may get those costs ahead of time on a prepaid debit card through the plan’s Advanced Funds program, which CHIP does not include. A parent, relative, or friend who drives instead can be paid mileage once SafeRide and HHSC approve the driver, which the plan says takes about three weeks. The doctor signs each trip form, the form reaches SafeRide within 30 days, and the plan’s mileage page pays $0.70 a mile, round trip. See mileage reimbursement.

How to get Texas Children’s trips

The plan’s October 28, 2025 provider alert put both its Medicaid rides and its value-added rides with SafeRide from December 15, 2025. So the path to these members runs through SafeRide:

1. Get enrolled in Texas Medicaid. Apply in TMHP’s PEMS portal. Section 2200 of the state’s NEMT handbook says a plan’s vendor must confirm a ride company is enrolled before signing an agreement with it. The TMHP Contact Center is 800-925-9126, and the Texas guide covers timing.
2. Complete SafeRide’s signup form. It asks for a real NPI, your EIN, your liability limits, how many wheelchair vehicles you run, and how many wheelchair rides a day you can give SafeRide. A form left unfinished for 30 days starts over.
3. Send credentialing files. The company, vehicle, and driver checklist is in our SafeRide Health guide, and the Texas insurance limits to carry are on SafeRide Health in Texas.
4. Name every county you serve, including MRSA Northeast counties if you are in East Texas, so STAR Kids trips there reach you.

Your rate comes from your SafeRide agreement. Current SafeRide providers take questions to their network account manager. For the state’s own fee-for-service rates as a yardstick, see Texas’s MTP rate update.

Who to call

For	Contact
Member ride bookings and ride status	SafeRide, 888-583-0110
Minor forms	SafeRide fax 888-432-0026, or SafeRide Health, 18302 Talavera Ridge, Floor 3, San Antonio, TX 78257
Family and friend mileage	texaschildrens_driver@saferidehealth.com, fax 888-432-0026
Joining SafeRide’s network	team@saferidehealth.com or 855-955-7433
Questions about the plan’s ride notices	Texas Children’s Provider Relations, providerrelations@texaschildrens.org, 832-828-1004 or 1-800-731-8527
Texas Children’s Member Services	STAR 866-959-2555, CHIP 866-959-6555, STAR Kids 800-659-5764
Texas Medicaid enrollment	TMHP Contact Center, 800-925-9126

What to do first

1. Check the county table and mark which Texas Children’s programs have members where you drive.
2. Start TMHP enrollment now, since SafeRide cannot sign your agreement until it is done.
3. Fill out SafeRide’s form in one sitting with your NPI and EIN ready.
4. Show drivers both minor forms and train the photo ID check for attendants.
5. Make the car seat rule plain: the family installs it, and your driver never does.
6. Give the clinics you serve 888-583-0110 in place of MTM’s old number.
7. In the Harris and Jefferson areas, apply to MTM Health too for Wellpoint and Community Health Choice members.