NEMT Dispatcher Job Description: Broker Trip Offers, Will-Call Returns, Rider Privacy, and Overtime Status

Most of what a dispatcher does goes unnoticed until it slips: a trip offer expires, a rider waits at the clinic for a will-call van, a claim comes back denied for a missing signature. A written job description names who owns each of those moments. You hire for them, train to them, and can point to them later.

How to use this template

1. Fill in your broker deadlines first. Complete the deadline card in Part 8 of the NEMT dispatcher checklist, then copy each deadline into the blank beside its duty in Part 3. A duty written as “send a van within 45 minutes of the call” can be checked. “Handle will-calls” cannot.
2. Pick the title and fill in Part 1. Dispatcher, lead dispatcher, and dispatch manager are different jobs with different overtime answers. Choose the overtime line from the duties and pay, using the rules below the template.
3. Mark each duty in Part 3 essential (E) or marginal (M). A duty is essential when the job exists to do it, or when no one else on the shift can take it. If one person runs the desk on Saturdays, answering will-call returns is essential for that person.
4. Describe the real desk in Part 4. Count the hours on the phone and at a screen, the phone lines, and the screens. If the job ever includes driving a trip, credential the person as a driver first and add the driver duties from the NEMT driver job description.
5. Write the access rules in Part 6. Decide which rider details this job sees, and on which devices, before the first login is created.
6. Answer the Medicaid question in Part 8. Ask whether this person will run the day-to-day operation while you are out driving or away. If so, the person may belong on your Medicaid disclosures.
7. Sign and date it before the post goes up. When duties change, write a new version with a new date and keep the old one. Hand a copy to every applicant, and file the signed copy when you hire.

Where to find dispatchers, interview scenarios, pay data, and a two-week training plan are in how to hire a NEMT dispatcher. For a dispatcher who works from home, see remote NEMT dispatchers.

The template

Part 1: The job at a glance

Field	Fill in
Job title (dispatcher, lead dispatcher, or dispatch manager)
Company name and address
Reports to (name and title)
Works from (office, home, or both, and the address of each)
Brokers and health plans whose trips this job handles
Levels of service on the board (ambulatory, wheelchair, stretcher)
Vans and drivers on the board on a normal weekday
Full time or part time, and hours a week
Shift start and end times
Weekend rotation (which days, how often)
After-hours phone coverage (hours, how calls reach the dispatcher, how that time is paid)
Who covers the desk when this person is out
Pay plan (hourly or salary) and range in dollars
Overtime status (paid time and a half after 40 hours a week: yes, or exempt and the exemption that applies)
Benefits
Version date

For on-call setups that suit a small company, see after-hours NEMT.

Part 2: Job summary

Summary (two or three sentences)
Sample: Runs the dispatch desk for our ambulatory and wheelchair vans. Accepts broker trips our drivers can run on time, builds and confirms each run, keeps riders, facilities, and brokers informed, and closes out every trip so it can be billed.
Our summary:

Part 3: Duties

Mark each duty E (essential) or M (marginal). In the last column, write the broker deadline or how often the duty comes up.

No.	Duty	E or M	Deadline or how often
1	Review broker trip offers and accept only trips a credentialed driver and the right vehicle can run on time. Decline the rest before each broker’s deadline.		Decline within ____
2	Turn back an accepted trip that cannot be covered, before the broker’s turnback deadline, and record the reason		No later than ____
3	Build tomorrow’s run for each driver, matching level of service, pickup windows, and appointment times		Done by ____ p.m.
4	Confirm each rider the day before by phone or text, and record every attempt		By ____ p.m.
5	Send each driver only that driver’s own run		Daily
6	Check before each assignment that the driver’s license, training, and the vehicle’s insurance and inspection are current		Daily
7	Track pickups through the day. Call the rider or facility with a new time when a van runs late, and tell the broker.		Tell the broker when late by ____
8	Send a van for each will-call return		Van arrives within ____ of the call
9	Accept hospital discharges and same-day trips only after checking the level of service and the authorization		Pickup within ____
10	Answer calls from riders, families, facilities, and brokers, and confirm who is calling before sharing any trip detail		Every call
11	Send every change of pickup time, address, stop, or rider to the broker for approval before the driver acts on it		Every change
12	Move trips to another driver when a van breaks down or a driver calls out		Now and then
13	Report accidents, injuries, emergency calls, and incidents to the broker, then file the written report		Call within ____, report within ____
14	Keep the dispatch log: every call, change, and cancellation, with the time		Every shift
15	Close out every trip: final status, actual times, mileage, signatures, and proof for each no-show		Before ____ each day
16	Take after-hours and weekend calls on the rotation in Part 1
17	Lead dispatcher or manager only: assign shifts, train new dispatchers, and review on-time and complaint reports
18	Other:

Use the dispatch log sheet for duty 14, and see managing will-call trips for duty 8.

Part 4: Working conditions and physical demands

Demand	Our answer	How often
Talk on the phone with a headset (number of lines answered: ____)
Read and type at a computer (number of screens: ____)
Sit at the desk (up to ____ hours at a time)
Handle several calls and messages at once, with interruptions
Speak with riders, facilities, and brokers in English (other languages: ____)
Lift supplies or files (up to ____ pounds, or none)
Drive a trip or load a wheelchair (yes or no; if yes, driver credentialing first)
Work weekends, holidays, or overnight phone coverage
Work location: office noise, home office rules, or both

Part 5: Qualifications

Requirement	Our rule
Education
Experience (dispatch, call center, medical front desk, or driving our vans)
Typing and data entry (test given and passing score)
Languages
Knows our service area: counties, clinics, dialysis centers, hospitals
Broker portal training finished before the first solo shift (which brokers)
HIPAA privacy and security training (date)
Fraud, waste, and abuse training (date)
Criminal background check after a conditional offer
Exclusion list searches (OIG, SAM.gov, state list) before hire and every month
Proof of eligibility to work in the United States (Form I-9)
Driver’s license and full driver credentialing (only if the job includes driving)

Part 6: Rider information this job may see

Information	May see (yes or no)	Conditions (devices, dates, who it can be shared with)
Names, phone numbers, pickup and drop-off addresses
Appointment times and facility names
Medicaid or health plan member ID numbers
Level of service, wheelchair, oxygen, escort, or attendant
Notes that change how the ride is done (door help, hand-off to staff)
Reason for the visit or diagnosis
Past trips, no-shows, and complaints
Claims, payments, and denials
Driver files, drug tests, and background checks

Part 7: Statements for the job post

Statement	Use it? (yes or no)
Pay: $____ to $____ an hour (or a year), overtime after 40 hours a week
To ask for an accommodation in applying or interviewing, contact ________ at ________.
A criminal background check and exclusion list searches follow a conditional job offer.
This job handles private health information and requires HIPAA training before the first shift.
Equal opportunity employer.
Applications close on ________.

Part 8: Version, sign-off, and Medicaid check

Field	Entry
Version number and date written
Written by (name and title)
Date first posted, and where
Date replaced by a newer version
Will this person run the day-to-day operation while the owner is away? (yes or no)
If yes, date added to the Medicaid ownership and control disclosure
Employee’s name and date received
Employee’s signature

Several states require the pay range in the job post. The state list is in the driver job description, and the same rules apply to dispatchers.

Essential duties and accommodations at a small dispatch desk

A written job description prepared before you advertise or interview is evidence of which duties are essential under the federal disability rules (29 CFR 1630.2(n)(3)(ii)). The driver job description explains how those rules work. One reason they give fits a small office: a duty can be essential because few employees are available to share it (1630.2(n)(2)(ii)). The one dispatcher on a Saturday shift who must answer every will-call is that case, so mark that duty E for that person.

Part 4 should match what the desk really asks. In O*NET’s survey of dispatchers (occupation 43-5032, updated 2026), every respondent reported telephone conversations every day, 83 percent used email every day, 59 percent sat continually or almost continually, and 55 percent made repetitive motions continually or almost continually. The accommodations that come up for this job follow from that list, such as a different headset, keyboard, or screen. The rule names acquiring or modifying equipment or devices as a reasonable accommodation (1630.2(o)(2)(ii)).

These federal rules apply once you have 15 or more employees for each working day in 20 or more calendar weeks this year or last (1630.2(e)). The EEOC says a smaller employer may still be covered by a state or local anti-discrimination law.

Overtime status: dispatcher, lead dispatcher, or dispatch manager

Set overtime status from the duties and the pay, never the title. The Labor Department’s Fact Sheet 17C (revised August 2024) says job titles do not determine exemption status. The administrative exemption needs a salary of at least $684 a week, which is $35,568 a year, and a primary duty of office work tied to running the business that includes discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance (29 CFR 541.200).

That $684 floor is the federal figure the Labor Department enforces as of October 2026. A 2024 rule raised it to $844 a week on July 1, 2024 and set $1,128 for January 1, 2025. A federal court in Texas vacated that rule on November 15, 2024 (Texas v. U.S. Department of Labor), the Fifth Circuit dismissed the appeal on May 5, 2026, and the Labor Department put the earlier text back in the rules on May 15, 2026 (91 FR 27833).

A dispatcher who places trips under broker rules usually fails the duties test, even when the salary clears the floor:

• Broker handbooks are manuals. Discretion must be more than skill in applying well-established procedures described in manuals (29 CFR 541.202(e)). The exemption is not available to an employee who applies procedures in manuals within closely prescribed limits to find the correct response (29 CFR 541.704). Placing trips under a broker’s pickup windows, will-call clock, and turnback rules is that kind of work.
• Knowing the rules by heart changes nothing. The rules’ example of graders says that using memory in place of a manual of standards does not make the work exempt (541.203(h)).
• Costly mistakes are not the test. An employee does not exercise discretion on matters of significance merely because the employer loses money when the job is done badly (541.202(f)). A missed will-call costs you, but that alone does not make the job exempt.

A dispatch manager is judged under the executive exemption. It needs the same $684 weekly salary, a primary duty of managing the department, regular direction of two or more full-time employees or their equivalent, and authority to hire or fire, or recommendations on those decisions that carry particular weight (29 CFR 541.100). A lead dispatcher who supervises only when the manager is out does not meet the two-employee test (29 CFR 541.104(c)).

Your state may set a higher salary floor or a stricter duties test. For dispatcher pay by state and how hourly pay with overtime works, see the overtime section of the hiring guide.

The rider details line: HIPAA minimum necessary

When your company is a HIPAA covered entity, the minimum necessary rule requires you to identify the people or classes of people in your workforce who need rider information for their duties, the categories of information each needs, and any conditions on that access. You must then make reasonable efforts to keep each one to that list (45 CFR 164.514(d)(2)). Part 6 is that record for the dispatch job, written before the first login exists.

When you work as a broker’s or plan’s business associate, the same limit travels with the trip data through your agreement. The minimum necessary entry explains both roles and gives a sample list for drivers, dispatchers, and billers. Write the conditions column so a dispatcher can follow it on a busy morning: company phone and broker portal only, today’s and tomorrow’s trips only, nothing forwarded to a personal phone.

When the dispatcher runs the office

A dispatch manager who runs the company while you drive can be a managing employee under federal Medicaid rules: a person who exercises operational or managerial control over the day-to-day operation, or who directly or indirectly conducts it. Job title does not matter, and neither does pay status, because the definition applies whether or not the person is a W-2 employee (42 CFR 455.101). A dispatcher paid as a contractor counts the same way.

That is why Part 8 asks the question before the job is posted. If the answer is yes, the person’s details go on your Medicaid disclosure, and states set their own clock for reporting the change. The steps are in reporting a managing employee to Medicaid, and the fields are in the Medicaid disclosure of ownership template.