Jefferson Parish NEMT License: Company, Van, and Driver Permits (2027)

Jefferson Parish is one of only two places Louisiana’s Medicaid manuals name for their own NEMT permits, and the other is New Orleans. The parish Department of Emergency Management’s Office of EMS Compliance in Gretna licenses each NEMT company, inspects and permits each van, and certifies each driver. The broker that sends you Medicaid trips checks for all three, and the parish refuses anyone with a felony conviction.

Who needs a Jefferson Parish NEMT license

The rules sit in Chapter 5 of the Parish Code, the ambulance chapter, under Division 2, “Transfer vehicles.” A transfer vehicle is any vehicle used to carry patients who do not need medical care on the way, such as rides to a diagnostic or therapy visit. Sec. 5-25 bars three things without parish approval:

Who or what	Parish approval	Good for
The company	License to operate a non-emergency medical transport company	Up to one year
Each van	Vehicle permit, issued after inspection	Up to one year
Each driver	Non-emergency medical transfer attendant certificate	Up to one year

The parish’s vehicle and driver forms say they cover vans that operate in unincorporated Jefferson Parish. The Sheriff’s Office lists six incorporated cities and towns: Kenner, Harahan, Gretna, Westwego, Grand Isle, and Jean Lafitte. If your trips start inside one of them, ask the EMS Compliance office whether the permit still applies.

Unincorporated areas include Metairie, Harvey, Marrero, Terrytown, River Ridge, Avondale, and Waggaman. The Sheriff’s Office also notes that the Ochsner Hospital area, in the community of Jefferson, uses a New Orleans address but sits in unincorporated Jefferson Parish.

Sec. 5-37 exempts vans based outside the parish, except that any of them that picks up a patient in the parish must comply. Taxicabs and similar vehicles that do not carry people for medical purposes on a regular basis are exempt.

As of September 2026, Medicaid rides here run through the statewide brokers, MediTrans for the Healthy Louisiana health plans and Verida for fee-for-service members. The Louisiana guide covers joining them and the state’s Public Service Commission certificate and for-hire plates. Both Medicaid manuals, the managed care manual updated May 28, 2026 and the fee-for-service manual issued July 14, 2025, make the plan or broker collect the parish NEMT permit for each company, driver, and vehicle that will operate in Jefferson Parish, and copies for every van you add.

How to get licensed, step by step

1. File the company application

The company form asks for your trade name, business address, owner and manager, and type of ownership, with a copy of each proprietor’s or partner’s ID. For a corporation it lists the president, vice president, other officers, and shareholders. You also give the base station where your vans are kept, the parishes you plan to serve, and your insurer and agent.

2. Clear a background check for every owner

Sec. 5-26 requires fingerprinting and a criminal history check by a POST-certified law enforcement agency. The license is denied for any felony conviction, or for a revoked EMS or NEMT license in another jurisdiction.

3. Send insurance and payment

Have your agent send the certificate of liability insurance straight to the office, with Jefferson Parish Emergency Management as certificate holder. Mail it to 910 3rd Street, Gretna, LA 70053, or email it to the compliance office. Pay by money order, business check, or cashier’s check to “Jefferson Parish Pooled Cash.” The office starts only once payment and documents arrive. Under Sec. 5-40, fees are forfeited if you do not meet every requirement within 30 calendar days of paying, so file when your vans and drivers are ready.

4. Book each van’s inspection

Send a vehicle permit application for each van with its registration and insurance card. The form asks for its seats counting the driver, split into ambulatory and wheelchair, its color scheme, plate, and Louisiana inspection sticker (brake tag) number. Then call 504-349-5360 for an inspection. The parish asks you not to book one until the van has every item in the next section.

5. Certify each driver

New drivers make an appointment and bring their original cards. The requirements are below.

6. Get your occupational license

A company located in the parish also pays the occupational license tax to the Sheriff’s Office Bureau of Revenue and Taxation, 200 Derbigny Street, Suite 1200, Gretna. The tax depends on your business class and gross receipts, with a $50 minimum per location. Renewals are due January 1 and late after March 1. A company inside Grand Isle, Gretna, Harahan, Kenner, or Westwego gets its license from that city and still registers with the Bureau.

When everything is in, Sec. 5-26 has the parish issue the company license within 30 days.

What a van needs to pass inspection

The parish requirement sheet, updated August 1, 2024, fails a van for any missing item, with a $50 penalty the first time and $100 the second:

• Lettering at least 3 inches tall on both sides and the rear, showing the company name, vehicle number, and phone number. Magnetic signs are refused, and the word “ambulance” may not appear anywhere on the van (Sec. 5-27).
• A fire extinguisher no more than a year old.
• No Smoking and Fasten Your Seatbelt signs riders can read, and working seat belts.
• Clean seats with no rips, tears, or stains, and a clear floor.
• A spare tire and the tools to change it.
• An infection control kit: a face mask with safety glasses or a full face shield, non-latex gloves, a red bag for contaminated waste, a gown impervious to liquid, and disposable shoe covers.
• A first aid kit with gauze, bandages, a rescue blanket, medical tape, and blunt-tipped EMT shears.
• A pocket CPR face mask with a one-way valve, in a plastic case.
• Hand sanitizer.
• Working lights inside and out, including brake, backup, and plate lights, and a backup alarm.
• Intact windshield and windows, a working horn, wipers, and washer fluid, and working air conditioning and heat.

Keep the original permit in the van at all times (Sec. 5-27). Run through the vehicle inspection checklist the day before, since the state’s broker inspection checks more items of its own.

Driver certificates

Parish Code Sec. 5-28 and the driver application set these rules for each driver, and the certificate must be carried on every shift in the parish:

Requirement	What the parish accepts
License	A Louisiana chauffeur’s license (Class D) or another state’s equal. A standard Class E license is refused.
CPR	American Heart Association Healthcare Provider or Red Cross BLS for the Professional Rescuer, good for 2 years
First aid	Red Cross, American Safety and Health Institute, National Safety Council, or DOT First Responder, good for 2 years
Defensive driving	A National Safety Council 6-hour or 8-hour course taken within the past year, renewed every year
Background	A current criminal background check with fingerprints. The 2024 requirement sheet names a Louisiana State Police check, and the driver application asks for a national one.
Record	No felony conviction, no addiction to alcohol or drugs, and at least 18 years old

The code names the basic Heartsaver CPR course, but the application asks for the professional level, so book BLS and meet both. The parish lets 18-year-olds drive, while Louisiana’s plan rules require drivers to be 21 with no DUI conviction ever. See NEMT driver requirements for the full list.

Renewing drivers can send copies and payment through a supervisor or by mail. A certificate that lapses costs a $100 late fee plus the $40 renewal, and after a year the driver starts over with a new application. The office also makes occasional compliance checks.

Insurance for a Jefferson Parish NEMT license

The parish lowered its NEMT insurance floor in 2020. Ordinance 26062 of September 16, 2020 cut auto liability from $100,000, $300,000, and $300,000 to today’s amounts, and Ordinance 26107 of December 9, 2020 cut general liability from $300,000 to $100,000. The requirement sheet still lists the older general liability figure:

Coverage	Parish Code Sec. 5-31	EMS Compliance sheet (August 1, 2024)	MediTrans
Auto liability	$25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident, $25,000 property damage	Same	$1,000,000 per occurrence
General liability	$100,000 per occurrence and in total	$300,000 per occurrence and in total	Required

A policy with $300,000 in general liability meets both figures. If you want to carry less, get the office’s answer in writing before you buy. See NEMT insurance requirements.

Fees and renewal

These are the parish’s charges as of September 2026:

Item	New	Renewal
Company license	$450	$450 a year
Van permit and inspection	$250 per van	$250 a year
Driver certificate	$40	$40 a year
Late company or van renewal		$500 added
Late driver renewal		$100 added
Failed van inspection	$50 first, $100 second
Replacement card	$20
Occupational license tax	$50 minimum per location	Due January 1

The company, driver, or owner a license, permit, or certificate was issued to cannot assign or transfer it (Sec. 5-3). If you buy another operator’s vans, plan on new van permits in your company’s name. Under Sec. 5-35, a parish hearing officer can suspend or revoke any approval after a hearing with at least 15 days’ notice by certified mail, and can pull a van permit at once until its violations are fixed. The fee schedule sets company violation fines at $500 and driver fines at $100, then $200.

Working on both sides of the parish line

A company that also picks up in New Orleans needs the city’s own CPNC for each van and permit for each driver, granted at hearings held three times a year. See New Orleans CPNC licenses. Three points to line up across the two:

• Where you live. New Orleans accepts CPNC applicants who live in Jefferson Parish, but every holder keeps a business office and phone in Orleans Parish (New Orleans City Code Secs. 162-183 and 162-199).
• Lettering. Jefferson asks for a vehicle number in 3-inch letters. New Orleans bans separate unit numbers and uses the van’s CPNC number instead, and the Medicaid manuals make that CPNC number the van’s vehicle number there. Ask the EMS Compliance office whether it accepts the CPNC number on a van that works both sides.
• Drivers. Each driver needs the parish certificate and the city permit, and both ask for current CPR and first aid cards. Line up renewal dates so one class covers both.

What to do first

1. Call MediTrans or Verida and ask whether they need your vehicle type in Jefferson Parish. MediTrans accepts companies based on how full an area is.
2. Get the owners’ background checks before you pay any parish fee, since a felony ends the application and fees are not refunded.
3. Buy insurance at the broker’s limits, with $300,000 in general liability, and have the agent name Jefferson Parish Emergency Management as certificate holder.
4. Equip each van from the list above, down to the shoe covers, before you book the inspection.
5. Book driver training: BLS CPR, first aid, and a National Safety Council defensive driving course.
6. File the company, van, and driver applications together so all three land inside the 30-day window.