NEMT in Broward County: The County License, Fees, and Who Sends the Rides (2027)

Broward County licenses NEMT companies through its Consumer Protection Division, and it rewrote those rules on April 22, 2025 with Ordinance 2025-18. The license now reaches every company that carries riders in wheelchairs, on stretchers, or whose condition makes a regular carrier impractical, and the application covers ambulatory sedans too. Florida’s statewide steps, Medicaid enrollment with AHCA and the Level 2 screening for owners, are on the Florida guide.

The Broward NEMT license

Chapter 22½, article II of the county code says anyone who provides nonemergency medical transportation in Broward must hold a license from the Division (section 22½-16). The Division reviews each new and renewal application and approves or denies it. If it denies you, it tells you in writing within 10 days, and you have 10 calendar days to appeal in writing. The county administrator then decides within 30 days.

A license lasts up to three years. It cannot be sold or assigned without the Division’s written approval, and a change in majority ownership or control counts as a transfer, with a new application, investigation, and fees (section 22½-18).

You need an office in Broward

Throughout the application, you must keep at least one business office in Broward that can receive mail and where someone answers the phone every day. Once licensed, you keep an office in the county where the Division can inspect your records. The Division will not issue the license until you have a Broward County and a city business tax receipt at that address, and the physical address on your application must match them.

What goes in the application

Read the ordinance first, then gather:

1. Company papers. Your articles of incorporation, the date you formed, and every shareholder, partner, or member with their address.
2. Background checks. State and local criminal checks of every owner, officer, member, partner, and director, covering every place each lived in the last five years. The Florida check must be certified, and the Division points you to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s SHIELD website for it. Each person’s local police agency can run the local check.
3. A credit report from one of the three major credit bureaus, to show you can afford to run the service.
4. Your office and vehicle storage addresses.
5. Your rate schedule. Charging more than the fees on file is a violation (section 22½-21).
6. A notarized agreement to follow the ordinance. You promise to report a new address, officer, or majority owner within 20 calendar days, and to return a decal within 10 business days of taking a vehicle out of service.

The form lets you mark three items as pending. After the Division approves you, and before it issues the license, you pay the $369 license fee and send:

• A certificate of insurance that meets section 22½-19.
• The vehicle list (Form A-3) for every vehicle, sedans included. The checklist asks for each one’s year, model, type, seats, mileage, plate, and VIN.
• The personnel list (Form B-2), with each driver’s license and Broward chauffeur’s registration, and proof that each is trained on your wheelchair and stretcher equipment and holds the defensive driving, first aid, and CPR cards below.

Before a vehicle permit is issued, send three color photos of each vehicle, at least 8 by 10 inches on photo paper, showing the side, front, and rear. The lettering must be bold, at least 1½ inches high, readable from 10 meters (32.8 feet), and show your company name, phone number, and unit number. Section 22½-20 bans magnetic signs.

Bring the packet and fee in person, and pay by cash, check, card, or money order. A mailed or dropped-off packet goes in without payment, and the county emails an invoice. Emailed applications are thrown out. If anything is missing and you have not sent it within 90 days, the application is denied.

What it costs

Fee, as of October 1, 2025	Amount
License application	$741
License fee, paid after approval	$369
Vehicle permit, per vehicle	$75
Port Everglades first-time processing fee	$250
Port Everglades business permit, yearly	$250
Port Everglades decal, per vehicle	$20
Airport special permit (FLL), per vehicle, yearly	$50
Chauffeur’s registration, new driver	$132
Chauffeur’s registration, renewal	$114

The port and airport fees apply only if you pick up there. The Division bills license and vehicle permit fees separately.

Insurance and vehicle rules

Section 22½-19 sets a higher liability floor than Miami-Dade or Palm Beach County: $500,000 per occurrence, combined bodily injury and property damage, for every vehicle, including hired and non-owned ones. The certificate must come directly from your agent, list Broward County as certificate holder, and name the county as additional insured with 30 days’ notice of cancellation. Send a renewal certificate 30 days before each policy expires. Malpractice coverage is not required. See NEMT insurance requirements for how brokers and plans stack on top of this.

The Division inspects every vehicle before it issues or renews a license and at least once a year, then issues a vehicle permit to each one that passes. An unsafe vehicle comes out of service until the Division clears it. Each vehicle needs two-way contact with your base, which a cell phone satisfies under section 22½-20, and the public must be able to reach you by phone at all times.

Wheelchair vans need:

• A lift or ramp that meets 49 CFR part 38, with any modification done by a company registered with NHTSA.
• Two positive locks per wheelchair and a belt that holds the rider in the chair.
• An inside mirror that lets the driver see the whole passenger area.
• Door latches that keep doors from closing on riders while they board.
• A one-piece floor covering with no seams, sealed with rustproof cove molding at the walls.
• A charged 1A:10B:C fire extinguisher within reach of the driver.
• At least 50 inches from finished floor to finished ceiling.

Stretcher vans meet the same mirror, door, floor, extinguisher, and 50-inch height rules, plus stretcher fasteners installed to the maker’s specifications, a safety hook, a serial number plate on each stretcher, and a yearly stretcher inspection by a company authorized to repair them. Keep clean linens for each rider, and carry no other passengers unless they are with the stretcher rider. See what a stretcher van is for how the service is billed.

Ads must say plainly that you do not provide medical care, and you may never use the word “ambulance” for your vehicles or service.

Drivers, attendants, and records

Each driver must be 18 or older, swear to not being addicted to alcohol or drugs, hold a Broward chauffeur’s registration, and be trained on your wheelchair and stretcher equipment. Each also needs a National Safety Council defensive driving course or an equal one, a Red Cross first aid card or an equal one, and a CPR card from the Red Cross or the American Heart Association. An attendant must ride in the passenger area with any rider who is on a stretcher, reclining, or incapacitated.

The chauffeur’s registration is the county’s hack license (section 22½-8). Drivers apply in person or online at the county’s regulatory portal, are fingerprinted for state and FBI checks, and must speak, read, and write English. A felony conviction or DUI in the last seven years, or 24 or more points on the driving record in five years, disqualifies an applicant. A registration lasts two years or until the driver’s license expires, whichever comes first, and it stops being valid the moment the driver’s license is suspended. See NEMT driver background checks for how to screen before you hire.

Per the form revised April 17, 2026, a new driver pays $132: $80 to apply, $24 for the state fingerprint check, $12 for FBI records, $10 for the driving record, and $6 for monitoring. Records from other states cost extra and take longer. A renewal costs $114, plus $30 if it comes within a year after the old registration expired. A new driver may not drive for hire until the registration is issued, while a renewing driver gets a temporary one while the renewal is pending. The Division takes cash, cards, money orders, and business checks, but no personal checks. A denied applicant has 30 days to ask in writing for a hearing.

Keep these records ready for the Division to inspect:

• Personnel files with each employee’s hire date, qualifications, and yearly criminal and traffic record updates.
• Vehicle files with registration, maintenance, and the Division’s inspection records.
• A trip report for every ride: time, place, origin, rider’s name, destination, and whether the rider was on a stretcher. The report also carries written certification from the rider’s physician, physician assistant, or the medical director of a licensed ALS service that the rider needed no medical care on the way. Keep trip records at least three years.

Twice a year, you report your total calls, riders carried, and response times electronically. The code says the report goes to the Division, and the 2026 application names the county’s Office of the Medical Examiner and Trauma Services, so ask where to file.

Who sends the rides in Broward

Broward alone makes up Medicaid Region H (section 409.966). Members in a health plan book through the plan’s broker, and members outside a plan book through Modivcare. As of August 31, 2026:

Health plan	Members in Broward	Ride broker, Q2 2026
Simply Healthcare	60,046	Ride2MD
Sunshine Health	58,283	Alivi
Humana	54,249	Modivcare
Community Care Plan	33,897	Modivcare
Florida Community Care	1,540	Ride2MD

Aetna, Molina, and UnitedHealthcare had fewer than 60 members each in the county. Community Care Plan is owned by Broward’s two hospital districts, Broward Health and Memorial Healthcare System, and is based in Sunrise. On March 25, 2026 it asked for proposals from companies to manage its rides, with a notice of intent to award set for May 22, 2026. Its plan page covers the bid, so confirm the current broker before you apply for its trips.

The state’s 2025 capacity count listed 361 vehicles in Modivcare’s Broward network (282 ambulatory, 58 wheelchair, 21 stretcher) and 100 in MTM Health’s (32 cab, 63 lift, 5 stretcher).

TOPS and the Transportation Disadvantaged program

Broward County has been the Community Transportation Coordinator since August 15, 1990, and runs TOPS paratransit through Broward County Transit. It is a partial brokerage: it buys trips from contract operators and signs coordination contracts with agencies. In fiscal 2024-25 the state counted 2,204,145 trips in the county, with 980,558 driven by transportation operators, the most of any Florida county, and 352,486 by coordination contractors. The system had 613 vehicles and 856 drivers, and a paratransit trip cost $44.98 on average.

As of September 2026, riders book TOPS trips at 1-866-682-2258 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., one to three days ahead.

The May 2025 service plan names the players:

• The TOPS contractor. Transportation America, with 337 vehicles, under a paratransit contract that began January 1, 2015 and was amended in October 2021 to run 2022 to 2024 with two one-year renewals. If the county uses both renewals, the contract runs through December 31, 2026.
• Agency Coordinated Transportation (ACT). Pre-qualified agencies with a county contract, such as ARC Broward, the City of Miramar, the City of Deerfield Beach, the City of Margate, and United Community Options, carry TOPS riders to their centers and are paid a contracted rate per service hour.
• Coordination contractors. Agencies such as Agency for Community Treatment Services, Archways, Ann Storck Center, and Broward Children’s Center run their own vehicles for their clients.

The county’s state Trip and Equipment grant rates, effective July 1, 2022, are $29.78 per ambulatory trip and $51.04 per wheelchair trip. TOPS does not provide stretcher or emergency transportation. The plan says TOPS operators are chosen by competitive bid, so watch Broward County’s purchasing notices for the next paratransit solicitation, or ask the contractor about subcontract work.

What to do first

1. Rent a Broward office and get your county and city business tax receipts at that address.
2. Order the owners’ background checks (a certified state search, such as through FDLE SHIELD, plus local police checks) and a credit report.
3. Insure each vehicle for $500,000 combined, with the county as additional insured.
4. Register your drivers as Broward chauffeurs, and get their first aid, CPR, and defensive driving cards.
5. File the license application in person with the $741 fee, then schedule your vehicle inspections.
6. Enroll with Florida Medicaid and apply to the brokers for Simply, Sunshine, Humana, and Community Care Plan.

Crossing county lines brings the neighbors’ rules into play. Both let you drop off a rider you picked up in Broward. Miami-Dade requires its own certificate, one per vehicle, for any pickup there, while Palm Beach County lets you pick the same rider up for the prearranged ride back and requires its own vehicle for hire permit for anything else.