Warren County, Ohio Medicaid Transportation: The Valley Transport NET Contract, Its Rates, and When It Is Bid

Warren County sits between Cincinnati and Dayton, and Medicaid rides that no health plan covers are approved in Lebanon, its county seat. The county’s Department of Job and Family Services (JFS) buys those non-emergency transportation (NET) rides from one contractor at a time, chosen every two to four years. Valley Transport, LLC of Dayton won the 2023 round, and in 2026 it was the only company that bid.

Who arranges Medicaid rides in Warren County, Ohio

Under Ohio rule 5160-15-10, each county’s JFS pays for Medicaid trips that fall outside a health plan’s duty, while plan members ride through their plan’s broker, as the Ohio guide explains. County NET contracts in Ohio shows how other counties buy their share.

In Warren County the work sits with the JFS Division of Human Services at 416 S. East Street. Its Community Non-Emergency Transportation Plan, revised July 7, 2026 and signed by the director on July 13, sets these rules:

• Booking. Riders call 513-695-1420, and the county’s phone menu sends them to Valley Transport to schedule. Valley checks Medicaid eligibility in the state’s PNM system and calls the county’s NET Coordinator when it cannot confirm it.
• Notice. Riders ask at least 10 working days ahead, unless they are ill or injured or a Medicaid provider or health plan set a follow-up visit sooner.
• Other sources first. A member whose health plan, long-term care facility, or hospice must give the ride uses that source before NET.
• Area. The county defines its community as all of Warren County. For a ride outside it, the NET Coordinator first confirms the care is not available inside the county.
• Wheelchairs. Riders who need an accessible vehicle ask Valley, and the NET Coordinator at 513-695-1401 steps in when they need help.
• Cancellations. Riders cancel with the ride company at least two hours before pickup. Two or more missed rides or missed cancellations in a row within 30 days, without good cause, can put a rider on phone confirmation of every appointment for three months.
• Oversight. The NET Coordinator randomly audits the contractor’s monthly invoices, and the contractor keeps a daily manifest of completed trips.

The plan names Valley Transport as the only current vendor. Its second form of help is mileage paid at the county’s own employee rate to riders who drive themselves or bring a driver of their choice. They send a county mileage form, the medical provider’s confirmation, and a Google Maps route to the NET Coordinator each month. For care more than a two-hour drive away, with an appointment that starts before 8 a.m. or ends after 6 p.m., the director may approve a night of lodging.

The Human Services transportation page lists four lines for NET or transit tickets: 513-695-1450, 513-925-1450, 513-261-1450, and 937-425-1450. The 2019 and 2023 NET contracts also paid the contractor to drive two buses, supplied by the county’s early learning centers, for the Therapeutic Interagency Preschool program, which serves Head Start-eligible children who have been through trauma. The 2026 contract prices NET rides only.

The Valley Transport contract

The current contract came from a short round in the spring of 2026:

1. May 19. The commissioners approved a request for proposals (Resolution 26-0662). Dated May 20, it was due at 4 p.m. on June 3, 2026, at the JFS office in Lebanon.
2. May 26. The board named a five-member review committee: the Human Services director, deputy director, business manager, and eligibility supervisors (Resolution 26-0673).
3. June 16. One proposal had come in, and the board let Human Services negotiate with Valley, the top-ranked proposer (Resolution 26-0776).
4. July 21. The board approved the contract with Valley Transport, LLC, 4428 North Dixie Drive, Dayton, for July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2028 (Resolution 26-0922). By mutual agreement it can run one more year, through June 30, 2029.

What the contract pays

The contract attached to Resolution 26-0922 pays a loading fee for each one-way trip plus a rate for every mile, set by ride type. Billing is capped at $359,361.50 a year, built on 6,423 projected one-way trips:

Ride type	Per one-way trip	Per mile	Projected trips a year
Wheelchair (WCH)	$42.50	$2.50	1,600
Ambulatory (AMB)	$28.00	$2.25	3,623
MNR	$32.00	$2.50	1,200

The projections price every trip at 10 miles, which comes to $50.50 for an ambulatory trip, $67.50 for a wheelchair trip, and $57.00 on the MNR line. The contract’s list of services names ambulatory appointments, wheelchair transport, and trips involving minors, and Valley may not carry a minor without an adult along. If both sides extend it to June 30, 2029, every rate rises 5%, to $44.63, $29.40, and $33.60 a trip and $2.63, $2.36, and $2.63 a mile, and the cap becomes $377,329.58.

The other terms that matter to a ride company:

• Hours and area. Rides 24 hours a day, every day of the year, anywhere in Warren County and to Montgomery, Butler, Clermont, Hamilton, Greene, and Clinton counties.
• Booking. Riders schedule directly with Valley’s call center, and Valley checks eligibility in PNM.
• Driver screening. An FBI and BCI fingerprint check, searches of the abuse, nurse aide, sex and child offender, incarcerated offender, and SAM lists, and the Ohio Central Registry, all before hire.
• Billing. An itemized invoice with trip sheets signed by riders, due by the 10th working day of the next month and paid within 30 days of a correct invoice. No-shows and cancellations are not billed.
• Subcontracting. Valley may subcontract only with JFS’s written approval, on the same terms as its own contract, and it pays the subcontractor directly.
• Insurance. At least $1,000,000 of liability coverage, with JFS and the commissioners named as additional insureds.

How Valley got here

Valley first won the work in 2023. Two proposals arrived by May 22, the Human Services director ranked Valley first, and on June 27, 2023 the commissioners approved a contract for July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2025 (Resolution 23-0832). It paid $32.14 a one-way trip in its first year and $33.75 in its second, plus $1.65 and then $1.73 a mile past 20 miles, with a first-year cap of $481,635.84 that included the preschool buses. The contract allowed an extension through June 30, 2026, and on June 24, 2025 the board approved an amendment to it (Resolution 25-0777). The 2026 round followed.

Valley also runs the county bus. Four companies answered the county’s 2023 request to operate Warren County Transit Service, then run by Universal Transportation Systems (UTS), and the commissioners contracted with Valley from January 1, 2024 (Resolution 23-1665). As of October 2026 the transit office still names Valley as its operator. The bus gives curb-to-curb rides to anyone in the county on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., booked 48 hours ahead at 1-888-297-0990, for $3 one way, or $1.50 for approved riders who are 65 or older or have a disability.

Beyond Warren, Valley runs Butler County’s whole NET program and holds one of Hamilton County’s two NET contracts.

How Warren County has bought these rides

Warren County has put this work out six times since 2012. Companies trading as UTS or Universal Transportation won every round through 2019, and Valley has won since 2023. The 2012 and 2014 rounds were sealed bids for Human Services transportation, opened in public, and every NET round since 2016 has been a request for proposals.

Year	How it was bought	Winner and price
2012	Sealed bid, opened May 8, two bids	Winton Transportation LLC (U.T.S.), $1.89 a live mile with a $20.50 minimum, up to $55,000
2014	Sealed bid, opened April 29, two bids	Universal Transportation Systems (UTS), $1.89 a live mile with a $20.50 minimum, up to $155,000
2016	Proposals due May 6	Winton Transportation (Universal Transportation), $225,000 for July 2016 to June 2018
2019	Proposals due May 24	Universal Transportation Systems, $32.54 a trip plus $1.35 a mile past 20 miles, July 2019 to June 2021
2023	Proposals due May 22, two received	Valley Transport, $32.14 a trip plus $1.65 a mile past 20 miles in year one
2026	Proposals due June 3, one received	Valley Transport, $28.00 to $42.50 a trip plus $2.25 to $2.50 for every mile

The 2012 and 2014 winners shared one address, 5284 Winton Road in Fairfield, and LeFleur Transportation of Ridgeland, Mississippi, lost both rounds at $2.00 a live mile. The 2019 contract was approved on July 9, 2019 (Resolution 19-0865).

The 2026 contract changed how a trip is priced. The 2019 and 2023 contracts paid one price per one-way trip and added mileage only past 20 miles, while the 2026 contract pays a loading fee by ride type plus every mile. Its projections come to about $56 a trip on 6,423 trips, where the 2023 contract projected about $34 a trip on 10,000 trips.

The money has shrunk while the Medicaid rolls grew. JFS spent $404,653 on NET in 2017, $327,026 in 2018, $480,025 in 2019, $314,000 in 2021, $345,000 in 2022, $161,000 in 2024, and $157,000 in 2025. Its requests counted over 23,000 Medicaid recipients in the county in 2019 and 2023, and over 30,000 in 2026. Each contract caps billing at a yearly amount unless the board amends it, and spending has run well under the cap: the 2023 contract allowed $481,635.84 for its first year, and the county spent $161,000 in calendar 2024.

What the 2026 request asked of bidders

• Who may bid. Public agencies, nonprofits, and for-profit companies with a record of serving this rider group. Proposals for one part of the riders, or for service on a small scale, were welcome, and the board may award one provider or several with no promised volume.
• Vehicles and insurance. Enough vehicles for the demand, specialized vehicles for riders with special needs, and liability limits of $2,000,000 or more. The insurance certificate must promise the board 30 days notice before any cancellation.
• Drivers. A CDL or the right license for the vehicle, CPR and first aid training, and a criminal background check on every direct-service employee and applicant.
• Price. One unit cost per one-way trip, from a budget sheet of staff, operating, space, fuel, maintenance, and vehicle insurance costs divided by your yearly one-way trips.
• Getting paid. A cost-reimbursement contract. Invoices pass through JFS, the commissioners, and the county auditor and are typically processed within 60 days, and you must show at least 60 days of cash flow from other income or reserves. No-shows, canceled trips, and unloaded miles are not paid.
• Paperwork. A narrative with references and staff qualifications, your most recent audit, signed forms on debarment, conduct, and management, a notarized non-collusion affidavit, and a sworn statement on delinquent personal property taxes.
• Scoring. 250 points, 50 each for service delivery, cost, tracking and reporting, transportation track record, and experience with Medicaid riders.
• Delivery. Paper only: one original and two copies at the JFS office by 4 p.m. on the due date. Email is not accepted, and a postmark does not count as received.

Either side may end the contract on 30 days written notice, and records stay on file for five years after the state accepts the final closeout report.

How to compete for Warren County NET work

1. Mark the spring of 2028. The contract ends June 30, 2028, or June 30, 2029 if extended. The 2023 request gave bidders 20 days and the 2026 request 14, both in May. Check the commissioners’ bid page from April, and email the commissioners’ office to be told of addenda.
2. Build the package now. A recent audit, a $2,000,000 insurance certificate, driver checks, and a per-trip budget take longer than two weeks to pull together.
3. Price against the current rates. Valley’s contract pays $28.00 plus $2.25 a mile for an ambulatory trip and $42.50 plus $2.50 a mile for a wheelchair trip. Work out your own cost per trip from the request’s budget sheet before you decide where to come in.
4. Propose a slice if you are small. A proposal for one group of riders, such as wheelchair users, fits the request’s invitation to smaller proposals, and the county may contract with a second company.
5. Talk to Valley about overflow. Its contract lets it subcontract only with JFS’s written approval and on the contract’s own terms. Read running trips as a subcontractor before you call Valley at 1-800-541-6555.
6. Pass the state vendor checks. Under rule 5160-15-14, at each contract start and renewal a private vendor gives the county certified BMV records for its drivers, Ohio criminal background checks on direct-service staff, and clean SAM and LEIE exclusion searches. See NEMT driver background checks.
7. Plan for slow pay. A trip on the first of the month is billed by the 10th working day of the next month and paid up to 30 days after that, and the request warned processing can take 60 days. Carry about two months of fuel and payroll. See NEMT cash flow.