Public Transportation and Medicaid NEMT: A Coordinated Partnership that Benefits our Communities

On Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020, Health Affairs published a blog post titled, “Cutting Medicaid Non-emergency Medical Transportation Will Harm Community-Level Public Transportation“.

This is the fourth time in three years an NEMT-focused essay appeared on the Health Affairs Blog, the most prestigious forum for essays and short pieces on health policy topics. The essay was written by  Scott Bogren and Alexandra King, of the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) along with Michael Adelberg, who leads research for the Medical Transportation Access Coalition (MTAC), a multi-stakeholder organization that educates the public and policy makers on medical transportation.

As the post and report show, non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) is interwoven into the services provided by our nation’s local transportation agencies, which often serve as key NEMT ride providers. The authors conclude that curtailing Medicaid NEMT would have significant negative consequences on local transportation services beyond Medicaid.  Local transportation agencies, in the four states examined, depend on NEMT as a steady source of revenue (sometimes more than 50% of total funding) to provide transportation to vulnerable and rural populations. Read more in the full report posted here.

As mobility management professionals are well aware, coordination of services is a pillar of community transportation systems.  Without Medicaid NEMT, transit services for all populations – including those seeking health care, employment, and other trip purposes – would be lost or substantially curtailed.  

We all know the important role that transportation plays for both individual and community health.  The National Center for Mobility Management is home to a number of resources on the topic, including our recent Public Health and Transportation Webinar Series, and our published health and transportation focused issue briefs such as  Opportunities to Improve Community Mobility through Community Health Needs Assessments, and Transportation to Healthcare Destinations: How A Lifeline for Patients Impacts the Bottom Line for Healthcare Providers.

Additionally, you can check our daily news page, and find both new and evergreen resources and reports on our Health and Transportation By Topic Page.