The Wire — Week of October 19, 2026
DC's broker handoff turns into a bid protest and MTM Health stays through December 31, BCBSNM becomes the third HCSC plan to move to MTM Health, a House bill would write electronic trip verification into federal Medicaid law, Rhode Island charges two NEMT companies, Ohio’s GPS trip-verification law takes effect, and Michigan opens bidding for a broker that could go statewide.
The Wire is NEMT Wire's weekly news brief: the contract awards, rate moves, and regulatory decisions that decide who carries the trips. We skipped a week — this edition covers October 6 through 19. The District of Columbia's broker handoff turned into a bid protest, a third Blue plan moves to MTM Health, a House bill would put GPS-verified trip records into federal Medicaid law — and Ohio already did.
1. Washington, DC: Verida's takeover is on hold — MTM Health stays the broker through December 31
The October 1 handoff we have been watching since September did not happen. Instead, the District extended MTM Health's fee-for-service NEMT contract (CW89317) for a fourth quarter: Mayor Bowser transmitted Modification M024 to the Council on September 16, the Council deemed it approved September 27, and the extension runs October 1 through December 31, 2026 at an estimated $6,051,195 on fixed capitated rates. The reason is in the District's own contract summary: MTM filed a protest of the Verida award (Contract CW135340) with the DC Contract Appeals Board on August 5 — docketed as P-1231 — and the summary says the protest "is being briefed by the parties and a decision by the Board is forthcoming." NEMT Guide, which first reported the extension, also reports the District issued a stop-work order on Verida's contract on August 6; we have not seen that order ourselves. This is the second bridge extension this year — the prior one covered April 10 through September 30 at $12.79 million — so the District is paying by the quarter while the Board decides. What it means for you: if you carry DC Medicaid fee-for-service or IDD-waiver trips, MTM is still your broker, your MTM credentials still need to be current, and nothing Verida sent you about an October start is operative until the Board rules. Keep the Verida onboarding paperwork warm anyway — if the protest is denied, the next handoff date will come with less notice than this one did.
Sources: DC Council — CA26-1002, Proposed Contract No. CW89317 with Medical Transportation Management, Inc. (deemed approved Sep 27, 2026); Mayor's transmittal and Council Contract Summary for Modification M024 (PDF); DC Council — CA26-0885, Proposed Contract No. CW135340 with Verida, Inc.; NEMT Guide — DC Extends MTM Health NEMT Contract to December 31, 2026
2. New Mexico: BCBSNM Medicaid rides move from Modivcare to MTM Health on November 1 — the third HCSC plan to flip
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico will switch its Medicaid members' non-emergency medical transportation from Modivcare to MTM Health effective November 1, per a provider notice first posted July 15 and updated September 9. The mechanics match the Texas and Illinois changes we covered: trips already scheduled for on or after November 1, including recurring trips, carry over to MTM with no member action; members reach MTM at 866-913-4342 (Ride Assist for scheduling help: 866-418-9829), the MTM Health website, or the MTM Link Member app; BCBSNM is mailing members instructions. That makes three Health Care Service Corporation Medicaid plans — Texas and Illinois on October 1, New Mexico on November 1 — moving to MTM Health in six weeks. This is a plan-level change, not a change to New Mexico's fee-for-service transportation. If you were running BCBSNM trips through Modivcare's New Mexico network and are not credentialed with MTM Health, you have two weeks before that volume goes to someone who is.
3. Federal: a House bill would make electronic trip verification a Medicaid requirement for NEMT starting January 1, 2027
Rep. Gabe Evans of Colorado introduced H.R. 10618, the Strengthening Tools for Oversight to Prevent Medicaid Fraud Act of 2026 ("STOP Medicaid Fraud Act"), on September 28; it was referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee with no cosponsors listed. The bill would add a new subsection to Section 1903 of the Social Security Act requiring every state to require an "electronic verification system" for non-emergency transportation services (and applied behavior analysis) furnished under the state plan or a waiver on or after January 1, 2027. The data elements are borrowed from the existing electronic visit verification law for home care: type of service, the individual receiving it, the date, the location, the individual providing it, and begin and end times. A state found out of compliance would get 90 days to file a corrective action plan and a year to comply; states that already require electronic verification for these services are exempt. This is a bill, not a law, and it has a long way to go — but it tells you where federal policy is heading: GPS-stamped, time-stamped trip records as the baseline for getting paid. Most broker apps already capture every element on that list; if any of your Medicaid volume still runs on paper trip logs or a dispatcher's spreadsheet, that is the exposure.
4. Rhode Island: AG charges two NEMT companies in a $1M-plus Medicaid fraud sweep — one allegedly ran 16,000 rides without required insurance
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha's office announced charges October 14 against seven people in five Medicaid fraud cases totaling more than $1 million, and two of the five are transportation companies. Mooshood Lawal and Amudat Lawal of Moshlaw Transportation face two counts of Medicaid fraud each plus conspiracy; the AG alleges roughly 16,000 rides were billed, about $270,000 in reimbursements, while the company lacked required insurance and had invalid vehicle registrations. Mustapha Opere Toyin and Ganait Idris of Assured Transportation face six counts of Medicaid fraud each over roughly $453,000 in alleged payments for transportation that "could not have occurred as billed." These are allegations and every defendant is presumed innocent. The operator lesson is in the first case: in Rhode Island, as in most broker and fee-for-service programs, insurance and registration are conditions of payment, not just conditions of licensure — a lapsed policy can turn every trip you ran during the gap into a fraud count, even if the rides happened. Disclosure: NEMT Wire is published by Thrive Risk Management Insurance Solutions, Inc., which brokers NEMT insurance; we have a commercial interest in how operators insure their fleets.
5. California: CMTA posts a draft NEMT bill and sets its annual meeting for November 6 in Burbank
The California Medical Transportation Association — the state association for NEMT operators since 1978 — is heading into its annual meeting on Friday, November 6, 2026 at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport, with an agenda not yet posted. The bigger item on its site is legislative: CMTA has posted a draft NEMT bill (file-dated January 28, 2026) and is raising money for a campaign "to increase Medi-Cal and broker-contracted rates," crediting board member Vlad Minasyan with bringing what it calls the NEMT crisis to Governor Newsom's attention. California has no statewide broker — Medi-Cal transportation is contracted plan by plan — so a rate bill would land on the managed-care plans and their transportation vendors, not a single broker contract. If you run Medi-Cal trips, the November 6 meeting is where the 2027 legislative ask will be set; NEMT Wire plans to be there.
Sources: California Medical Transportation Association — home page (draft NEMT legislation, rate campaign); CMTA — Annual Meeting 2026
6. Ohio: GPS trip verification is now state law for Medicaid NEMT — effective October 6, full compliance due within 18 months
Ohio Senate Bill 315 — the Ohio Medicaid Program Integrity and Fraud Prevention Act, passed by both chambers and signed by the governor — took effect October 6. Among its provisions (new R.C. 5164.40 to 5164.406), the Department of Medicaid must develop, procure, certify or approve a system to obtain GPS coordinates verifying non-emergency medical transportation services, on a fixed clock: technical standards and an implementation plan within six months of the effective date (roughly April 2027), a pilot within 12 months (roughly October 2027), and "full compliance … for all nonemergency medical transportation service providers" within 18 months (roughly April 2028). The law also requires an exemption process for providers, automated fraud-detection tools built on the GPS data, an annual report to the General Assembly, and — within five years — a system to cross-reference NEMT GPS data against other Medicaid providers' claims. Read it alongside H.R. 10618 (Item 3): Ohio didn't wait for Washington. Operators on paper trip logs in Ohio have about eighteen months, and the broker app you already use probably satisfies most of it — the open question is what ODM's technical standard will accept.
Sources: Ohio General Assembly — Senate Bill 315 (136th G.A.), effective October 6, 2026; Ohio Legislative Service Commission — S.B. 315 bill analysis (PDF), "EVV for nonemergency medical transportation services," R.C. 5164.40 to 5164.406
7. Michigan: MDHHS is shopping for a fee-for-service NEMT broker that could go statewide — proposals due this month
Michigan's Department of Health and Human Services posted RFP-491-260000002254, "NEMT Broker for Medicaid FFS Beneficiaries," on SIGMA Vendor Self Service on August 27, seeking one contractor to take beneficiary calls, verify eligibility, schedule rides, set reimbursement rates and manage a subcontracted provider network, recruit volunteer drivers, and submit prior authorizations through CHAMPS — paid on a monthly capitated rate. The place of performance is Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties "with possible expansion to all Michigan counties"; the contract term is August 1, 2027 through July 31, 2030 with up to five one-year renewals. Today the only brokered fee-for-service region is the tri-county area under Modivcare's contract 190000000912 (originally LogistiCare, August 2019); everywhere else, local MDHHS offices authorize rides. Pair this with the Auditor General's pending NEMT audit (Item 8) and the message to Michigan operators outside metro Detroit is: a broker could stand between you and the county office for the first time, and the bidders are building their networks now.
Sources: Michigan SIGMA Vendor Self Service (search Opportunity ID 260000002254); RFP-491-260000002254-1 listing — posted Aug. 27, 2026; MDHHS Contract 190000000912 — ModivCare Solutions, NEMT Broker for Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties (PDF)
8. Watch list: Colorado, Michigan, Wisconsin, Maryland
Colorado: HCPF's NEMT hub now lists a member webinar for December 8 (12 to 1:30 p.m., Zoom, with Spanish and ASL interpretation) and has posted the Statewide Broker Transition Operational Memo (OM 26-029) alongside the Provider Toolkit; the dates have not moved — new-provider enrollment opened October 1, members start booking through MediDrive December 1 for trips on or after January 1, 2027, and from January 1 no MediDrive contract means no trips and no payment (our full transition guide). Michigan: beyond the RFP in Item 7, the Auditor General's performance audit of Medicaid NEMT, which the OAG's project page estimated for "October 2026" two weeks ago, now says "Late 2026"; nothing has been released. Wisconsin: DHS's vendor page and its September 3 advisory-committee materials still say there is no timeframe for the move from MTM to Verida; MTM remains the vendor and providers need do nothing yet. Maryland: no statewide NEMT solicitation activity.
Sources: Colorado HCPF — NEMT statewide broker transition hub; Michigan Office of the Auditor General — Medicaid Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Services, work in progress; Wisconsin DHS — 2026 Announcement for Wisconsin's NEMT Vendor
States in this piece:CaliforniaColoradoIllinoisMarylandMichiganNew MexicoOhioRhode IslandTexasWashington, DCWisconsinNational / Federal