How to Start a NEMT Business in Kansas (2027)

Kansas runs Medicaid rides through KanCare, its managed care program. Each of the three KanCare health plans hires a ride broker: SafeRide Health for Sunflower Health Plan and UnitedHealthcare, and MTM Health for Healthy Blue. You enroll with the Kansas Medical Assistance Program (KMAP) first, then join the brokers. The state rules below follow KMAP’s NEMT provider manual updated in March 2026 and the KanCare contracts that run through December 31, 2027.

How Medicaid rides work in Kansas

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Division of Health Care Finance (KDHE-DHCF), runs Medicaid. KMAP says Kansas contracts with three health plans to coordinate care for nearly all Medicaid members through KanCare. KDHE announced them on May 14, 2024, for contracts from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2027. At that time KanCare served about 458,000 people.

Each plan is paid a capitation rate and buys rides through its own broker. The broker depends on the member’s plan, not on where the member lives:

Health plan	Ride broker	Since
Sunflower Health Plan	SafeRide Health	November 1, 2024
UnitedHealthcare Community Plan	SafeRide Health	January 1, 2026
Healthy Blue	MTM Health	Named in June 2026 manual

UnitedHealthcare moved its rides from Modivcare to SafeRide on January 1, 2026, so if you drove its trips for Modivcare, you need a SafeRide agreement to keep them. Our SafeRide Health and MTM Health guides cover each company across its other states.

A small group of members is not in a KanCare plan, which KMAP calls fee-for-service. Their rides go to NEMT providers enrolled directly with KMAP, and every trip needs prior approval from the KMAP NEMT prior authorization team.

Who qualifies and where rides go

A member must be on Medicaid on the day of the ride and have no other free way to get there, such as a friend or relative. Rides go to the closest Medicaid-covered provider for the member’s condition, inside Kansas or within 50 miles of its border. Sunflower says children under 18 must travel with an adult.

The KanCare contracts also cover mileage reimbursement, meals and lodging for the member and one attendant on overnight trips, and rides to family planning services outside the plan’s network. As of September 2026, Sunflower pays friends and family who drive a member $0.30 per mile.

Some members get no NEMT. KMAP’s manual lists members with MediKan, which covers only emergency ambulance rides, and members with QMB coverage only. Members on a spenddown qualify once they meet it. The manual also leaves out nursing facility residents, whose rides come from the facility, and trips to waiver services such as day services and supported employment.

How members book

The contracts let plans ask members to book at least three calendar days ahead, with an exception process for same-day needs. Urgent care, facility discharges, and transfers get a pickup within three hours of the request. Standing orders for repeat trips to the same treatment can run up to six months, which matters for dialysis rides.

Plans also buy extra rides. As of September 2026, Sunflower offers up to 12 round trips a year for needs such as food, housing, and jobs. UnitedHealthcare offers up to 24 in 2026 for trips such as the pharmacy, a food bank, or a job interview. Healthy Blue offers members 22 and older up to 30, booked through MTM.

Which brokers to join in Kansas

You need a KMAP ID before any KanCare plan can use you. KMAP General Bulletin 24215 (November 2024) says enrollment as a KMAP provider is required to enroll with a KanCare plan, and claims for a service location not enrolled with KMAP deny. The KanCare contracts also make each plan confirm its providers are enrolled before it signs an agreement, and Healthy Blue’s June 2026 provider manual says all providers serving KanCare members must be screened and enrolled through KMAP. The order that works:

1. Enroll with KMAP. Apply through the Provider Enrollment Wizard on the KMAP portal. KMAP’s NEMT manual asks for each vehicle’s make, model, and VIN, photos of each vehicle and its VIN, a photo of the lift on wheelchair vans, proof of insurance, a copy of each driver’s license, and a Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) check on each driver. The phone number must be a business line, and owners disclose any other KMAP provider they own 5 percent or more of. Once enrolled, pick your plan networks in the KMAP secure portal, under Manage My Information on the MCO Network tab, as KMAP’s bulletin shows for Healthy Blue.
2. Apply to SafeRide Health. Fill out the new provider form on SafeRide’s network page. It asks for the owner’s details, your company NPI and EIN, and your Medicaid provider ID if you have one. Finish within 30 days or the process restarts. A network vendor manager then takes you through credentialing and onboarding.
3. Apply to MTM Health. File MTM’s online provider application. MTM’s steps are an interview, a contract, credentialing, training, and then your first trip.
4. Take fee-for-service trips if you want them. Your KMAP enrollment also lets you carry fee-for-service members, with prior approval for every trip.

SafeRide’s new provider line is (855) 955-7433 (team@saferidehealth.com), and KMAP provider enrollment is 1-800-933-6593. For what brokers check in general, see NEMT broker credentialing and how to contract with Medicaid health plans.

KMAP also expects you to screen your drivers and dispatchers every month against the federal exclusion lists, because anyone excluded cannot work on KanCare trips in any role. Our OIG exclusion list entry shows how.

Licenses and registrations

Your company

Form an LLC or corporation with the Kansas Secretary of State. Articles of organization for an LLC cost $85 online or $90 on paper, on the form revised February 27, 2026, and online filings process within minutes. You need a resident agent and a Kansas street address for the registered office.

An LLC files an information report every two years, by April 15 of even years if it formed in an even year and odd years if it formed in an odd year. The report costs $90 online or $110 on paper, on the form revised January 23, 2026. A business that is still late three months after the due date forfeits.

Get your employer identification number (EIN) from the IRS, which never charges for one. SafeRide’s form asks for an NPI, so see how to get an NPI number. Ask your city or county clerk if you need a local business license.

Kansas Corporation Commission

Kansas law defines a for-hire passenger carrier by its use of a commercial motor vehicle, and K.S.A. 66-1,114 makes it unlawful to carry passengers for hire between Kansas points without a certificate of convenience and necessity from the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC). The KCC uses the federal definition: a vehicle rated 10,001 pounds or more, or one designed or used to carry more than 8 people, driver included, for pay.

Your vehicles and trips	What you need
Sedans and minivans for 8 or fewer, driver included, under 10,001 pounds	No KCC certificate, but insurance rules still apply
For-hire vans for 9 or more, or rated 10,001 pounds or more	A KCC certificate, a USDOT number, and a Form E
Vans designed for 16 or more, driver included	Also a commercial license with a passenger endorsement
Paid trips across a state line	Federal rules, often operating authority

K.S.A. 66-1,109 exempts some trips from the certificate. They include trips wholly within one city or between touching cities, taxi and bus companies that run only within a city or within 25 miles of their home city, and public transit systems run under the federal 5307, 5310, and 5311 programs. Call the KCC Transportation Division at (785) 271-3145 to confirm your case.

To apply, file in KTRAN, the KCC’s online system. K.S.A. 66-1a01 caps the application fee at $250 and sets renewal at $10 per vehicle a year. Since October 1, 2025, KTRAN adds $1.50 to each ACH payment and 2.5 percent to card payments. The KCC’s rules ask for:

• A list of each vehicle by make, year, and VIN, and a copy of your articles of organization.
• Proof that the person in charge of safety attended a KCC motor carrier seminar.
• A USDOT number from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
• A Form E filed electronically by your insurance underwriter, not your agent. The KCC does not accept ACORD certificates.

Finish the application within 30 days or the KCC may dismiss it. The KCC posts each application so others can protest it. If no one does, it can grant the certificate without a formal hearing, and it rechecks your safety compliance within 18 months. Carry the current KCC cab card in every registered vehicle, and renew every year or your authority ends by law. For cross-border trips, such as to Kansas City, Missouri, see do NEMT companies need a USDOT number, and for the layers of licensing in every state see NEMT license requirements.

Vehicle rules

KMAP requires a safety inspection of each vehicle by a business that repairs vehicles for the public. You cannot inspect your own. Send the inspection, title or registration, and proof of insurance for every new vehicle, or KMAP terminates your enrollment. Under KMAP’s NEMT manual, every vehicle must:

• Be licensed and registered as Kansas law requires, and kept in good physical and mechanical condition.
• Have working seat belts, turn signals, lights, horn, brakes, windshield, windows, and mirrors.
• Carry child restraints as the law requires when children ride.
• Keep a comfortable temperature and airflow.
• Carry the insurance the law requires, with a notarized statement signed by your insurance agent covering all vehicles.

Vans the KCC regulates follow the federal safety rules Kansas adopts. Its checklist calls for a yearly inspection, a post-trip inspection report kept for 90 days, maintenance records, an accident register kept for three years, a mounted fire extinguisher, and your legal name and USDOT number on each vehicle.

SafeRide requires wheelchair securement training for drivers who carry wheelchair users. Use our vehicle inspection checklist before each broker review, and see wheelchair securement for the tie-down steps.

Driver rules and training

KMAP’s NEMT manual sets these standards for every driver:

• At least 21, with a current, valid license and no restriction except corrective lenses.
• No medical condition, ignition interlock, or medication that interferes with safe driving.
• A pre-employment drug screen, and random drug or alcohol tests if you require them.
• A current KBI background check before the hire date. KDHE-DHCF may ask for a fingerprint check.
• No smoking while carrying members, no driving impaired, and no driving with a communicable disease that could put members at risk.

KMAP denies or ends your enrollment if a driver has any of these on record:

Record	Looks back
DUI	8 years
Shoplifting or theft after age 19	3 years
Felony fraud	10 years
Misdemeanor fraud	5 years
Possession of a controlled substance	5 years
Possession with intent to deliver	10 years
Assault without a weapon	10 years
Assault with a weapon	15 years
Prostitution or solicitation	5 years
Robbery or burglary	10 years
KMAP termination for cause	10 years

Child pornography, child or adult abuse, domestic violence, rape or sexual assault, homicide, and any felony involving a vehicle, such as hit and run, disqualify with no time limit. Federal law adds its own floor: no driver may be excluded from federal health programs, every driver needs a valid license, and your company needs a process for state drug law violations and for reporting each driver’s driving history to Medicaid.

SafeRide also asks for national background and sex offender registry checks, a motor vehicle report, a pre-hire drug screen, first aid, CPR, or AED training, defensive driving, and passenger assistance training. See NEMT driver requirements and track each file with our driver file checklist.

Trip rules and how you get paid

The KanCare contracts set these service standards for every plan’s rides:

• Pickup. Arrive no later than 15 minutes after the scheduled pickup time. Later than that counts as a provider no-show.
• Waiting. Wait at least 15 minutes past the scheduled time before a member counts as a no-show.
• Arrival. Drop the member off at least 15 minutes before the appointment, but no more than one hour early.
• Returns. A return ride not arranged in advance must come within one hour after the appointment. See will-call trips.
• Delays and routing. Tell members when you will be late, and make no stops on the way home.

SafeRide’s provider guide, posted in June 2023, asks you to confirm rides you can run by 2 p.m. local time, accept half of same-day requests, and bill trips daily with time stamps and driver and vehicle details. SafeRide pays within 30 days of a properly completed ride. Call SafeRide about every cancellation and no-show, and report any accident with injury or property damage within one hour. To stay in the network, SafeRide expects 95 percent on-time trips and 95 percent acceptance. MTM sets its rates and pay terms in its provider agreement.

Fee-for-service trips through KMAP

For members not in a plan, KMAP pays from its own fee schedule, and Kansas’s state plan says those NEMT rates were set as of October 1, 2021. Get prior approval before every trip at 1-800-285-4978 or by fax at 1-800-913-2229, then bill on the CMS-1500. The base code covers the first 10 miles one way, measured by the shortest mapped route, never the odometer.

Code	When KMAP uses it
A0130	Wheelchair user in a wheelchair van
T2002	Wheelchair user in a car or minivan
T2005	Stretcher van
A0425	Each mile past the first 10 one way

Wheelchair and stretcher codes need a certification form from the member’s primary care doctor, or the claim denies after 45 days. Trips over 50 miles one way need a Medical Necessity form signed by a doctor, APRN, or PA. Extra riders on a shared trip bill with the TK modifier. Fill out KMAP’s NEMT Transportation form with the member’s signature on every trip, and keep records for five years. NEMT is not on Kansas’s electronic visit verification (EVV) list, which covers in-home services such as personal care and home health visits.

KMAP never pays for waiting time, and claims are due within 12 months of the trip. To appeal, send a written fair hearing request to the Office of Administrative Hearings within 30 days of the notice, plus three days for mail. Our trip log captures what KMAP asks for.

Insurance requirements

SafeRide’s credentialing page lists its minimums for companies:

Item	What SafeRide asks for
General liability	$1 million per occurrence, $2 million aggregate
Auto liability	At least $500,000
Certificate	SafeRide named as additional insured
Each vehicle	Current registration and insurance card

Ask MTM’s network team for its Kansas limits before you buy a policy, and see NEMT insurance requirements for what brokers ask for elsewhere.

Kansas law sets two floors. Every Kansas auto policy must carry personal injury protection and at least the limits in the first column. KCC carriers file at least the limits in the second:

Limit	Any vehicle	KCC carriers
Injury to one person	$25,000	$100,000
All injuries, one accident	$50,000	$300,000
Others’ property	$25,000	$50,000

K.S.A. 66-1314 applies the KCC limits to vehicles carrying passengers without a KCC permit too, unless an exemption in K.S.A. 66-1,109 applies. Ask your insurer and the KCC how that reaches your fleet. Kansas law also lets an auto insurer exclude a vehicle while it carries people for a charge, so make sure your policy covers paid rides.

Kansas requires workers’ compensation once your total gross payroll tops $20,000 a year. The law exempts you only while payroll was $20,000 or less last year and you expect $20,000 or less this year, and a new employer is exempt while it expects $20,000 or less. Wages paid to family members do not count, and a smaller employer can choose to be covered.

What it costs and how long it takes

These are the fees Kansas sets as of September 2026. Vehicles, insurance, and equipment depend on your quotes. See what it costs to start a NEMT business for those.

Item	Cost	Paid to
EIN	Free	IRS
LLC articles of organization	$85 online, $90 paper	Secretary of State
Information report, every two years	$90 online, $110 paper	Secretary of State
KCC certificate (larger vans only)	Up to $250	KCC
KCC renewal	$10 per vehicle a year	KCC

A workable order, from first call to first trip:

1. Email SafeRide and apply to MTM. Ask where they need providers and which service levels they are short on.
2. Form your company and get your EIN and NPI.
3. Get any city or county license your area requires.
4. Buy insurance that names SafeRide, get the notarized statement KMAP wants, and have your insurer file a Form E if you need a KCC certificate.
5. File with the KCC in KTRAN if your vans are built for 9 or more people or rated 10,001 pounds or more, after the safety seminar and your USDOT number.
6. Get each vehicle inspected at an outside shop and photograph it, its VIN, and its lift.
7. Hire drivers who pass the KBI check, drug screen, and driving record review, and train them.
8. Enroll with KMAP and pick your plan networks.
9. Finish broker credentialing and training, then take your first trip.

KMAP enrollment and broker credentialing set the pace. For the same steps in any state, see how to start a NEMT business, and for long rural runs see rural NEMT.

Work beyond Medicaid

Three other sources of rides are worth a call.

• Public transit and coordinated transit districts. Kansas law makes its coordinated transit districts the recipients of federal 5310 and 5311 transit funds. The Kansas Department of Transportation’s 5310 program funds private nonprofits and authorized governments that carry older adults and people with disabilities, and applications for the year starting July 1, 2026 closed November 20, 2025. A for-profit company cannot apply itself, so ask your district whether it buys rides from private carriers. See Section 5310 grants.
• Veterans. The VA pays for special mode transportation, a specially equipped vehicle, when a VA provider decides a veteran’s condition requires it and the trip is approved in advance. Ask the travel office at VA Eastern Kansas in Topeka or Leavenworth, or at the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center in Wichita, how it books these rides. See VA special mode transportation.
• Facilities and private pay. KMAP counts nursing facility residents’ rides as part of the facility’s own services, and hospice-related rides as the hospice’s job. That makes nursing homes and hospices customers for contract rides. Dialysis centers, hospitals, and riders who pay for themselves add work that does not depend on a broker. See how to get NEMT facility contracts.