Indiana Raised Its NEMT Fee Schedule on January 1, 2026 to 100 Percent of 2025 Medicare Rates

For trips on or after January 1, 2026, Indiana Medicaid’s Professional Fee Schedule pays nonemergency medical transportation (NEMT) at rates updated to reflect 100 percent of the January 1, 2025 Medicare fee schedule. The Indiana Health Coverage Programs (IHCP) announced the change in bulletin BT2025156 on November 6, 2025, for physician services, medical equipment and supplies, and transportation. A wheelchair van trip went from $30.93 to $31.79, an ambulatory trip from $12.37 to $12.71, and each paid mile from $1.62 to $1.67.

The bulletin also told Indiana’s managed care plans to mirror the 2026 schedule no later than January 1, 2026. The next step is already set: bulletin BT2026143, issued August 27, 2026, moves the schedule to the January 1, 2026 Medicare rates for trips on or after January 1, 2027.

What changed on January 1, 2026

Item	Detail
Notice	IHCP bulletin BT2025156, November 6, 2025
Applies to	Dates of service on or after January 1, 2026
New basis	100 percent of the January 1, 2025 Medicare fee schedule
Services moved	Physician services, medical equipment and supplies, and transportation
Services not moved	Applied behavior analysis, dental, home health, Medicaid Rehabilitation Option, and waiver services
Managed care plans	Must mirror the 2026 schedule no later than January 1, 2026
Preview files	Four preview schedules, including one for NEMT and one for ambulance services
Questions	FSSA.IHCPReimbursement@fssa.in.gov, or IHCP Customer Assistance at 800-457-4584

This is the same yearly cycle Indiana used for 2025, when bulletin BT2024180 set rates at 100 percent of the January 1, 2024 Medicare schedule. The IHCP fee schedules page says the Professional Fee Schedule sets fee-for-service rates and serves as the minimum rate for all IHCP managed care health plans. Since November 2025 the schedule posts once a month, on the second Tuesday.

Indiana NEMT rates for 2026, code by code

These are the maximum fees on the IHCP Professional Fee Schedule updated September 8, 2026. The 2027 column comes from the IHCP’s NEMT and ambulance preview schedules, effective January 1, 2027.

Service	Code	2025	2026	From January 1, 2027
Ambulatory trip, base	T2003	$12.37	$12.71	$13.08
Each added ambulatory rider on a shared trip	T2004	$6.19	$6.36	$6.54
Accompanying adult or attendant, ambulatory	T2001	$6.19	$6.36	$6.54
Wheelchair van trip, base	A0130	$30.93	$31.79	$32.71
Each added wheelchair rider on a shared trip	A0130 TT	$15.47	$15.90	$16.36
Accompanying adult or attendant, wheelchair	A0130 TK	$15.47	$15.90	$16.36
Extra attendant to help load a wheelchair rider	A0130 U6	$7.73	$7.95	$8.18
Mile, ambulatory or wheelchair	A0425 U3 or U5	$1.62	$1.67	$1.72
Waiting time, each half hour	T2007 U3 or U5	$7.23	$7.43	$7.65
Taxi, 0 to 5 miles	A0100 UA	$7.42	$7.63	$7.85
Taxi, 6 to 10 miles	A0100 UB	$12.37	$12.71	$13.08
Taxi, 11 miles or more	A0100 UC	$18.56	$19.08	$19.63
Nonemergency basic life support ambulance	A0428	$262.72	$269.02	$275.42

Most NEMT base codes rose about 2.8 percent in 2026, and the mileage rate rose about 3.1 percent. The stretcher van codes T2005 and T2049 stay noncovered, as do S0209 and S0215. A fee-for-service rider who needs a stretcher is scheduled directly with an enrolled ambulance provider, which bills the nonemergency ambulance codes. For how the base codes work, see NEMT billing codes.

What a trip pays under the 2026 rules

The base rate is only part of what a trip pays. The IHCP transportation module, version 6.1 (August 19, 2025), sets how much of each trip is paid:

• Mileage starts after 10 miles. Ambulatory and wheelchair trips get mileage only when the rider travels more than 10 miles one way, and the IHCP deducts the first 10 miles of each one-way trip. Bill all loaded miles anyway, rounded to the nearest whole mile. See NEMT mileage billing.
• Shared rides pay half. When two or more members ride together from the same county to the same vicinity, such as one medical campus, the first rider gets the full base, mileage, and waiting time. Each added rider gets the half-rate code (T2004 or A0130 TT) with no mileage or waiting time.
• Waiting time is narrow. It is paid only past the first 30 minutes, only when the vehicle waits parked outside, and only when the rider traveled 50 miles or more one way. Bill one unit per 30 minutes and log start and stop times. See NEMT wait time billing.
• Taxis are paid by trip length, with no mileage. A taxi whose fares are set by local ordinance bills its metered or zoned rate and is paid up to the maximum fee. Any other taxi is paid the lower of its charge or the maximum for the trip’s length.

Here is what those rules mean for common trips, before and after January 1, 2026:

Trip, one way	2025	2026
Wheelchair van, 8 miles (base only)	$30.93	$31.79
Wheelchair van, 18 miles (base plus 8 paid miles)	$43.89	$45.15
Ambulatory, 14 miles (base plus 4 paid miles)	$18.85	$19.39
Two ambulatory riders to one medical campus, 14 miles (first rider as above, second on T2004)	$25.04	$25.75

A wheelchair rider who lives 18 miles from a dialysis clinic makes two one-way trips per visit when the driver drops the rider off and comes back later. At 2026 rates that is $90.30 a visit, up $2.52 from 2025.

Who pays these rates

Fee-for-service trips through Verida

Most Traditional Medicaid rides are brokered by Verida. The transportation module says Verida’s rate schedule is based on the IHCP Professional Fee Schedule, each provider signs a Verida rate agreement, and Verida may negotiate higher or special rates with each provider. Clean claims sent to Verida by Wednesday of each week are paid within 14 days.

Trips you bill to the IHCP yourself

Some fee-for-service trips skip the broker. They are scheduled directly with the transportation provider and, unless the module says otherwise, billed to the IHCP under standard fee-for-service rules. They include stretcher and other basic or advanced life support transports, all hospital-to-hospital transports, rides to 1915(c) waiver services, and Medical Review Team trips. Nursing facilities arrange rides for their own residents and pay the transportation provider themselves, because the IHCP counts those rides as part of the facility’s daily rate.

Managed care trips

Healthy Indiana Plan, Hoosier Healthwise, Hoosier Care Connect, and PathWays members ride through their health plan’s broker, such as WellTrans. You are paid under your agreement with that broker. In 2024, when Indiana raised fee-for-service NEMT rates 20 percent, bulletin BT2023149 said the plans would keep paying NEMT providers their market-based rates. The IHCP fee schedules page now says the schedule is the minimum rate for all managed care plans, so read your own agreement to see which rate applies. For the 2026 broker changes for HIP and Hoosier Healthwise, see WellTrans takes over HIP and Hoosier Healthwise rides.

What providers should do now

1. Load the 2026 rates into your billing for dates of service from January 1, 2026, and set up the 2027 rates for trips from January 1, 2027.
2. Check your remittance advice for trips since January 1, 2026 against the table above. See how to read a remittance advice.
3. Mind the filing limit. Claims you bill to the IHCP directly are due within 180 calendar days of the date of service under 405 IAC 1-1-3.
4. Ask Verida for your current rate agreement if your rates did not move on January 1, 2026, and ask each plan broker in writing whether its rates changed.
5. Price shared rides and long trips with the rules above, not the base rate alone. Mileage and waiting time drive most of the difference on rural and dialysis runs.
6. Watch the monthly fee schedule update on the second Tuesday of each month, and the IHCP bulletins page for the notice on 2028 rates.

For enrollment, brokers, and statewide rules, see the Indiana state guide. To compare Indiana with other states, see NEMT reimbursement rates.