The Wire — Week of October 5, 2026
October 1 came and went: Montana's Modivcare contract takes over from Mountain Pacific, Colorado opens new-provider enrollment and posts its toolkit, BCBSIL Illinois follows Texas from Modivcare to MTM Health, Michigan's auditor readies an NEMT report, and a New York op-ed puts NEMT insurance costs on the policy table.
The Wire is NEMT Wire's weekly news brief: the contract awards, rate moves, and regulatory decisions that decide who carries the trips. October 1 came and went — here is what actually changed, and what's still pending.
1. Montana: Modivcare is now the statewide broker — operators should be enrolled, not enrolling
Montana Healthcare Programs scheduled its switch to a modernized NEMT model for October 1, with Modivcare taking over broker functions from Mountain Pacific Quality Health under a new DPHHS contract. DPHHS's own provider newsletter laid out the mechanics: a September 1 soft go-live, the member reservation line keeping its old number — (800) 292-7114 — but moving to 24-hour service, and two new lines for transportation providers ((866) 726-1471) and facilities ((866) 726-1469). A digital app for scheduling, billing, documentation and ride tracking comes with it. As of this week, DPHHS's Medicaid Transportation Services page directs members to Modivcare and the 24/7 line, so the handoff appears to be in effect. If you were carrying Montana Medicaid trips under the Mountain Pacific arrangement and haven't completed Modivcare's provider onboarding, that is now the gating item — the state's own guidance says providers would hear from Modivcare and DPHHS during the transition, so if you haven't, call the provider line rather than wait.
Sources: Montana DPHHS — Claim Jumper, August 2026 (PDF): "Changes to NEMT: Enrollment, Billing, and Accessibility"; Montana DPHHS — Medicaid Transportation Services
2. Colorado: new-provider enrollment is open, the toolkit is out, and the hub now reads "September 20"
Colorado's enrollment door is open. HCPF's NEMT hub now says the provider moratorium has expired and that beginning October 1 new NEMT provider enrollment is available: complete HCPF enrollment first, then submit one MediDrive enrollment application, and MediDrive will contact you to finish contracting. Two other changes since our last brief: the NEMT Provider Toolkit, listed as "coming soon" a week ago, is now posted; and out-of-state and specialized in-state trips for eligible members can be scheduled through the MediDrive facility portal, with out-of-state requests due at least five business days before travel. One wrinkle worth noting — the hub now states the moratorium "expired on September 20, 2026," where prior HCPF materials said September 30. The practical dates are unchanged: statewide contracting is underway, members start booking through MediDrive December 1 for trips on or after January 1, and from January 1, 2027, no MediDrive contract means no trips and no payment. Our full transition guide is here.
Source: Colorado HCPF — NEMT statewide broker transition hub
3. Illinois: BCBSIL Medicaid rides moved from Modivcare to MTM Health on October 1 — the second HCSC plan to flip
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois switched its Medicaid members' non-emergency medical transportation from Modivcare to MTM Health effective October 1, per a provider notice issued in June. Trips already scheduled for on or after that date, including recurring trips, carry over to MTM Health with no member action; members are reaching MTM at 877-831-3148, the MTM Link website, or the MTM Link Member app. This is the same move Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas made on the same date (covered last week) — both are Health Care Service Corporation plans, so operators in HCSC's other Medicaid states should assume the question has at least been asked. As in Texas, this is a plan-level change, not a change to Illinois HFS fee-for-service transportation. If you carried BCBSIL Medicaid trips through Modivcare's Illinois network and are not credentialed with MTM Health, that volume has already moved to someone who is.
4. Michigan: a state audit of Modivcare-brokered NEMT is due this month
Michigan's Office of the Auditor General lists a performance audit of Medicaid non-emergency medical transportation services with an estimated release of October 2026. The scope statement names the three channels MDHHS uses — the contracted broker (Modivcare Solutions), Medicaid Health Plans, and local offices — and puts NEMT spending at $160.5 million ($55.9 million state general fund) for October 1, 2024 through March 31, 2026. State audits of broker programs tend to produce the findings that drive the next RFP cycle: trip verification, no-show and complaint handling, provider credential checks, and payment accuracy. Michigan operators should read it the day it drops; operators in other Modivcare states should read it the week after.
5. New York: an op-ed argues fraud enforcement should come with tech mandates — and an insurance fix
In a September 28 amNY op-ed, Matthew Daus of CUNY's University Transportation Research Center argued that the current federal–state push on NEMT fraud — data analytics, cross-agency matching, algorithmic billing review, and state AG prosecutions including New York's — leaves compliant small operators exposed to ruinous audits over paperwork errors. His counter-proposal: HHS should mandate and fund vehicle and dispatch technology that produces clean billing records, push the single-accountable-broker model New York uses with Medical Answering Service, and attack NEMT's insurance costs by requiring carriers to give "safe driving discounts" for telematics, smart dashcams and speed-assistance devices. It is an opinion piece, but it is a rare one that treats insurance as a program cost rather than an operator problem — and the telematics-for-premium-credit idea is one brokers and states could adopt without legislation. 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.
6. Watch list: DC, Wisconsin, Maryland
Washington, DC: Verida's fee-for-service broker contract (CW135340) is approved and its DC provider and facility pages are live, but we still have not seen a DHCF page confirming the October 1 handoff from MTM — if you carry DC FFS trips, confirm your status with Verida directly. Wisconsin: DHS's vendor page still says there is no timeframe for the transition to Verida; MTM remains the vendor and providers need do nothing yet. Maryland: no new statewide NEMT solicitation activity this week.
Sources: Verida — Washington, DC facilities page; Wisconsin DHS — 2026 Announcement for Wisconsin's NEMT Vendor
States in this piece:ColoradoIllinoisMarylandMichiganMontanaNew YorkTexasWashington, DCWisconsinNational / Federal