Anne Arundel County Medical Assistance Transportation: The County Contract and How Trips Are Sent (2027)

Anne Arundel County runs its Medicaid rides through the Department of Health’s Medical Assistance Transportation program, paid for by a state grant. Health Department staff in Annapolis screen each request and hand the approved trips to one contracted company, AAA Transport, which drives them under a county blanket agreement awarded in February 2024. The same agreement also serves the county’s Department of Aging and Disabilities.

How the Health Department runs Medical Assistance rides

Maryland funds Medicaid rides as grants to each local health department and to Montgomery County’s transportation department, under state plan amendment 26-0002 (approved May 20, 2026, effective January 1, 2026), and each grantee screens requests and buys rides in its own area. MDH plans one statewide dispatch and claims system, which the legislature’s 2026 budget analysis expects in 2030, and the Maryland guide covers both.

The county calls its program a last resort. A rider needs a medically necessary appointment, full Medical Assistance or HealthChoice coverage, and an Anne Arundel County address, and must have no other way there. That means no car or no ability to drive, no family or friends who can drive, no bus or Mobility route nearby, and no eligibility for a County Office of Transportation service.

That last test matters to a ride company. The Office of Transportation’s general paratransit serves county residents 55 and older and adults 18 and older with a disability, booked two to seven days ahead at 410-222-0022, in lift-equipped vehicles or accessible taxis scheduled through the Department of Aging and Disabilities’ taxi voucher program. The county’s fiscal 2027 budget describes the service as serving 4,100 residents curb to curb, with trips to medical appointments, dialysis centers, and the major hospitals in Baltimore City. A rider who qualifies for it rides paratransit, not the Health Department’s program.

How a trip gets booked and sent

Riders call 410-222-7152, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at least 48 hours (two business days) before the appointment. Reservations close at 2:30 p.m., so a Monday appointment is booked by 2:30 p.m. the Thursday before, and an appointment the day after a state or county holiday is booked two business days before the holiday.

The Health Department’s November 2023 posting for a program screener describes the work on the county side:

• Screening. Staff check medical necessity, that the trip is non-emergency, that the rider has no other way there, that care is at the closest location, and that the Medical Assistance number is valid and the service covered. They also check motor vehicle records.
• Trip details. Staff ask whether the rider needs an attendant or a wheelchair-accessible vehicle.
• The daily list. Staff send the contractor a daily record of every approved rider with the mode of transportation, appointment time, and appointment location.
• Records. Staff file approvals, no-shows, denials, and complaints, and keep each rider’s yearly eligibility papers.

What the contractor handles

Once a trip is on the daily list, the Health Department’s rider page sends riders to AAA Transport for most changes, as of October 2026:

• Same-day changes and cancellations go to AAA Transport at 410-741-6034, which keeps a 24-hour message line for cancellations.
• Early returns. A rider whose appointment ends early, with the ride home still an hour and a half away, calls AAA Transport to see if a driver and van can come sooner.
• Missed rides. A rider who misses rides may have to call AAA Transport one hour before every ride to confirm, and a rider who keeps missing them can lose riding privileges. See no-show.
• Weather. If county government closes, the program does not run, though efforts are made for dialysis and methadone clients. If weather turns during the day, AAA Transport decides whether to keep running, and no rider is left at an appointment without a ride home.
• Who else rides. An adult may bring an attendant only when a physician’s certification statement approves one. A child up to age 16 with an appointment rides with a parent or legal guardian, and children without appointments cannot come along.

The 2024 bid and the company that won it

The county bought this work through invitation for bids IFB24000114, Medical Assistance Transportation, in its former P.O.R.T. procurement system. It was posted in late November 2023, took one addendum on January 17, 2024, and opened bids on February 13, 2024. The county sought a qualified bidder to carry Medical Assistance and HealthChoice members who live in the county to and from Maryland Medicaid providers for medically necessary, non-emergency care, on behalf of the Department of Health and the Department of Aging and Disabilities, with room for other county agencies to use it later.

The county’s contract record shows the award: contract SSF2400218, blanket agreement 6580-OB, issued to Am-Van, Inc. on February 22, 2024, with a term of July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025. Am-Van trades as AAA Transport, the name on the Health Department’s rider page. The record shows no later term, though AAA Transport is still the company on that page in October 2026, so ask the Purchasing Division for the current term and end date. Am-Van also holds an emergency ride agreement with Baltimore City that runs to August 1, 2027.

The county’s yearly reports of payments by vendor carry the same vendor account, listed as All American Ambulance, AAA Transport in 2023 and as Am-Van, Inc. after that. It received $1,990,035.74 in 2023, $2,460,145.35 in 2024, and $3,207,939.90 in 2025. Those totals cover everything the county paid that vendor, not only Health Department rides. Unlike Baltimore County, which splits its trips among three contracts by service level, Anne Arundel’s rider page names one company for its Medical Assistance trips.

What the program spends and how many trips it runs

The county’s approved fiscal 2027 budget lists the state’s MA Transportation Grant under the Health Department’s Family Health Services bureau. In fiscal 2025, July 2024 through June 2025, the grant paid $3,407,876 for contract services and $474,529 for staff. The fiscal 2026 budget carried $1,714,100 for contract services, and the fiscal 2027 budget carries $1,685,700. The budget notes that from fiscal 2027 on, grant appropriations follow the grant funds as they are awarded.

MDH’s October 2019 report to the budget committees counted the program’s trips for three years. Average cost per trip is the county program’s total cost divided by trips, so it is not a vendor rate:

Fiscal year	Paid trips	Average cost per trip	Requests not authorized
2017	60,474	$43.61	214
2018	63,228	$46.07	205
2019	65,660	$44.42	184

How a new company gets Anne Arundel County trips

1. Register in Harbor. The county moved its supplier system from P.O.R.T. to Harbor on July 6, 2026, and Harbor now carries the county’s bid list. Purchasing opens electronic bids in a virtual meeting you can call into on Tuesdays at 1:30 p.m.
2. Watch for the next Medical Assistance Transportation bid. On October 2, 2026, the county’s open solicitations listed none for transportation. In 2024 the bid stayed open about 11 weeks, from late November to mid February.
3. Ask about the current agreement. Call Purchasing at 410-222-7620 and ask for the renewal status and end date of blanket agreement 6580-OB, and whether the Department of Aging and Disabilities buys rides under it.
4. Get your state authority first. Van companies usually need Maryland PSC passenger carrier authority and for-hire driver licenses, as the Maryland guide explains. Anne Arundel County is outside the WMATC district, so a trip that starts or ends in the county needs no WMATC certificate.
5. Price against the incumbent. In fiscal 2025 the grant paid about $3.4 million for contract services. Read how government NEMT contracts work before you set a bid price.
6. Know the other county ride buyers. The Office of Transportation’s paratransit and the Department of Aging and Disabilities’ taxi vouchers are separate county programs, so ask each how it buys rides.