UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Texas Transportation: SafeRide Rules and How to Get Trips

UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Texas is UnitedHealthcare’s Texas Medicaid and CHIP plan, and SafeRide Health has managed its Medicaid rides since January 1, 2026. What changed that day is in our report on the switch. How Texas plans hire ride vendors is in the Texas guide, and SafeRide’s other Texas plans and insurance limits are on SafeRide Health in Texas.

Which UHC members ride, and where

UnitedHealthcare’s September 2, 2026 provider manual lists its programs by service area, and HHSC’s May 2026 preliminary enrollment file gives the size of each:

Program	Who it covers	UHC service areas, September 2026	UHC members, May 2026
STAR+PLUS	Adults 65 or older and adults with disabilities, who may also have Medicare	Bexar, Dallas, Harris, Hidalgo, Tarrant, Travis, MRSA Central, MRSA Northeast	About 183,000
STAR	Low-income children, pregnant women, and families	Harris, Hidalgo, Jefferson, Nueces	About 164,000
STAR Kids	Children and young adults 20 and younger with disabilities	Harris, Hidalgo, Jefferson, MRSA Central, MRSA Northeast	About 21,000
CHIP and CHIP Perinate	Children in CHIP, and unborn children in CHIP Perinate	Harris, Jefferson, Nueces	About 6,000

The Medicaid ride benefit covers STAR, STAR Kids, and STAR+PLUS. CHIP members get only the extra rides described below.

Nearly half of the plan’s members are in STAR+PLUS, and its 183,000 STAR+PLUS members were about a third of the program statewide, more than any other plan had. About 191,000 of the plan’s members live in the Harris area, roughly half. The next largest areas were Hidalgo (about 44,000), MRSA Northeast (about 31,000), Tarrant (about 24,000), and Jefferson (about 22,000).

STAR+PLUS also covers adults 21 and older who live in a nursing home. For those residents, the state’s NEMT handbook covers only trips to or from dialysis and a discharge home. UnitedHealthcare’s manual adds that NEMT does not include ambulance trips or transportation while a member is receiving long-term services and supports.

Where one SafeRide agreement reaches every plan

HHSC’s September 2026 map and its list of plan ride vendors show how far a SafeRide contract goes in UnitedHealthcare’s areas:

• STAR+PLUS. In Bexar, Dallas, Hidalgo, Tarrant, Travis, MRSA Central, and MRSA Northeast, every STAR+PLUS plan uses SafeRide: Community First, Molina, Superior, and UnitedHealthcare in the combinations each area has. Harris is the exception, where Community Health Choice books its STAR+PLUS rides with MTM Health.
• STAR and CHIP. Every plan in the Hidalgo and Nueces areas uses SafeRide. In the Harris and Jefferson areas, Community Health Choice and Wellpoint use MTM.
• STAR Kids. UnitedHealthcare shares Jefferson and MRSA Northeast only with Texas Children’s, and Hidalgo with Driscoll and Superior, all SafeRide plans. In Harris, Wellpoint’s STAR Kids members ride with MTM. In MRSA Central the other STAR Kids plan is Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, which moves its rides from Modivcare to MTM Health on October 1, 2026.

So a wheelchair company in Fort Worth, Austin, Waco, or Tyler reaches every STAR+PLUS member through SafeRide, while a Houston or Beaumont company needs MTM too to reach every plan’s members. See Texas Children’s ride benefit, Community Health Choice, and working with several brokers.

How UHC members and clinics book rides

Rule	UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Texas
Member line	888-462-6050, TTY 711. UnitedHealthcare lists 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central, 7 days a week. HHSC’s plan list gives 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday
Doctors and other care providers	SafeRide provider line, 855-932-2332
Facilities, including dialysis units	SafeRide facilities line, 855-955-7433
Online	SafeRide’s MySafeRide member portal and app for UnitedHealthcare Texas
Notice	At least two business days for routine trips, five for long-distance trips
Urgent trips after 6 p.m. Central	UnitedHealthcare’s member call center, 1-888-887-9003, for trips such as a hospital discharge
Follow-ups past 3 days, or escalations	SafeRide at 1-888-462-6050 in the manual, or 855-955-7433 on UnitedHealthcare’s provider page

The after-hours rule matters to anyone who runs hospital discharge trips in the evening: after 6 p.m., the manual sends urgent trips to the plan’s own call center rather than to SafeRide. For how booking windows shape your week, see advance notice.

Dialysis runs

UnitedHealthcare told dialysis facilities to set each member’s chair time with SafeRide. A recurring dialysis schedule for a UHC member therefore starts with the unit and SafeRide’s facility line, 855-955-7433, not with the plan. When you visit the units near you, ask whether they set UnitedHealthcare chair times through SafeRide, and tell them which counties you cover as a SafeRide provider. Our guides to dialysis transportation and standing orders cover how those routes run.

Papers that still name Modivcare

Some papers still name Modivcare instead of SafeRide. HHSC’s STAR+PLUS comparison charts, such as the Harris chart dated September 1, 2025, and its STAR Kids charts, such as the Harris chart dated October 1, 2025, list UnitedHealthcare’s extra round trips as rides “from Modivcare.” The plan’s own September 2, 2026 manual still says, in its ambulance section, that members may get non-emergency transportation through Modivcare. The newer STAR and CHIP charts, dated September 1, 2026, say to book with SafeRide. When a member or caseworker quotes a Modivcare number, give them 888-462-6050, and see when a broker changes for your own records.

Rules for attendants and young riders

UnitedHealthcare’s manual follows the state rules: an attendant the member needs rides at no cost, may first need the doctor to document medical necessity, and must stay where the care is given, though the waiting room is fine. Children 14 and younger ride with a parent, guardian, or other authorized adult, and teens 15 to 17 ride alone only with consent on file, which confidential care does not need.

The consent comes on SafeRide’s form for UnitedHealthcare’s Medical Ride Program. The guardian affirms that the teen can ride without an adult, will not be disruptive, will follow the driver’s rules, and needs no escort for support. If any of that stops being true, the form says UnitedHealthcare and SafeRide will no longer carry the teen without an escort. It goes to United_Travel@saferidehealth.com, and SafeRide’s Alternative Transportation Department is at 833-944-0517.

Check the trip record before a teen boards alone, and tell SafeRide if a ride shows the teen can no longer travel without an adult. A member, relative, or neighbor who drives can be paid mileage instead through SafeRide’s program for UnitedHealthcare Texas Medicaid members, once the driver registers. More on these rules in children in NEMT and escorts and caregivers.

Extra rides UHC pays for

UnitedHealthcare adds rides the state does not require, listed on HHSC’s comparison charts as value-added services:

Program	Extra rides	HHSC chart
STAR	4 round trips for health needs Medicaid does not cover, such as grocery, housing, or utility visits. Ages 0 to 17 ride with an adult. Book with SafeRide.	Harris, Hidalgo, Jefferson, and Nueces charts dated September 1, 2026
CHIP	4 round trips for health needs CHIP does not cover, on the same terms	Harris, Jefferson, and Nueces charts dated September 1, 2026
STAR+PLUS	4 round trips for services that affect health but Medicaid does not cover, such as grocery stores, housing, and utility offices	Harris chart dated September 1, 2025, which still names Modivcare
STAR Kids	The same 4 round trips. Riders under 18 must bring an adult.	Harris chart dated October 1, 2025, which still names Modivcare

The plan’s November 21, 2025 notice says dual special needs plan members may get rides through these services too. The Medicare side is on UHC Dual Complete transportation.

How to get UHC trips

UnitedHealthcare’s manual sends every NEMT claim from a SafeRide-contracted company straight to SafeRide, so the whole path runs through SafeRide:

1. Enroll in Texas Medicaid first. Apply in TMHP’s PEMS portal. The state’s NEMT handbook requires a plan’s vendor to confirm a ride company is enrolled before it signs an agreement. The TMHP Contact Center is 800-925-9126.
2. Fill out SafeRide’s signup form with a real NPI, your EIN, your liability limits, and your wheelchair capacity, and finish it within 30 days or it starts over.
3. Pass credentialing. The files SafeRide asks for are in our SafeRide Health guide, and the Texas insurance limits to buy are on SafeRide Health in Texas.
4. Confirm UnitedHealthcare is on your agreement. If you already drive for SafeRide, ask your network account manager whether your agreement covers UnitedHealthcare members in your counties.
5. Bill SafeRide. Claims go in through the transportation provider login on SafeRide’s site, within 95 days of the ride under the state handbook, which gives SafeRide 30 days to decide each one. See timely filing limits.

Your rate is set in your SafeRide agreement. The state’s own fee-for-service rates, a useful yardstick, are in Texas’s MTP rate update.

Who to call

For	Contact
Member ride bookings	SafeRide, 888-462-6050 (TTY 711)
Doctors and care providers booking rides	SafeRide, 855-932-2332
Facilities and dialysis units	SafeRide, 855-955-7433
Urgent trips after 6 p.m. Central	UnitedHealthcare member call center, 1-888-887-9003
Teen consent forms	United_Travel@saferidehealth.com, or SafeRide’s Alternative Transportation Department, 833-944-0517
Joining SafeRide’s network	team@saferidehealth.com or 855-955-7433
UnitedHealthcare Provider Services	1-888-887-9003
UnitedHealthcare Member Services	STAR, CHIP, and STAR+PLUS 888-887-9003, STAR Kids 877-597-7799
Texas Medicaid enrollment	TMHP Contact Center, 800-925-9126

What to do first

1. Find your county’s service area and note which UnitedHealthcare programs run there.
2. Start TMHP enrollment, since SafeRide cannot sign your agreement until it is done.
3. Apply to SafeRide in one sitting, with your NPI, EIN, and insurance limits in hand.
4. Visit the dialysis units near you and confirm they book UnitedHealthcare chair times through SafeRide’s facility line.
5. Give discharge planners both numbers: SafeRide’s lines by day, and 1-888-887-9003 after 6 p.m.
6. In the Harris and Jefferson areas, apply to MTM Health too, so you can carry Community Health Choice and Wellpoint members.