Specialized transportation assistance pilot program. (FE)

The bill requires any ADRC that participates in the program to submit an annual report of its activities to DHS and to the Department of Transportation, including a description of the number of individuals served by the program and the effect of the program on access to specialized transportation assistance services. The bill also requires DHS, in coordination with DOT, to submit an annual report to the legislature regarding the status of the program and any recommended changes, including information regarding whether the program should be continued. Under the bill, DOT is required, in coordination with DHS, to form an advisory group to advise both DOT and DHS regarding implementation pilot program, coordinate with the pilot regions, and provide recommendations regarding possible changes to the program.

Subject to any necessary federal approval, the bill also requires, in any contract for the arrangement and reimbursement of nonemergency medical transportation services to recipients of Medical Assistance, that DHS include provisions allowing providers of NEMT to offer transportation for purposes other than NEMT, to be paid for by the recipient of the transportation or another source, as an extension of an NEMT trip. Under the program, DHS would still provide reimbursement under the Medical Assistance program only for the NEMT portion of a trip, but a provider of NEMT services would be allowed to offer the Medical Assistance recipient— or another source on behalf of the recipient—the opportunity to pay to extend the transportation for other purposes as part of the same trip at the same rate offered for the NEMT under the Medical Assistance program.

Under the program, DHS must also include in the contract for NEMT services provisions requiring providers to collect, for both NEMT services and any extended services offered by a provider, information including, if applicable, trip log data, summary information on all calls for services and contacts with Medical Assistance recipients, encounter data based on Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services 1500 claim form data, network provider information, accident and moving violation reports, vehicle reports, complaint summary reports, telecommunications system reports, annual fiscal audit reports, and daily reports including numbers of trips, canceled trips, denied trips, and complaints.

To the extent NEMT services for Medical Assistance recipients may be permitted to be coordinated with other transportation services needed by Medical Assistance recipients, an ADRC may include in its coordination services coordination of such specialized transportation assistance services for Medical Assistance recipients.