Federal Medicaid regulations require that states ensure transportation to and from providers, a benefit known as non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT). In recent years, policymakers at the state and federal levels have begun to re-examine this benefit. The Senate Appropriations Committee report language for fiscal year (FY) 2020 directs MACPAC to examine the benefits of NEMT for beneficiaries, and the benefits of improving coordination of NEMT with public transportation and other federally assisted transportation services. To respond to the committee’s request, MACPAC is conducting a multi-pronged study.
This presentation provides background information on the NEMT benefit and details MACPAC’s approach for this study, including the policy and analytic questions of interest and plans for analysis. It describes what we have learned to date, including findings from an environmental scan of state NEMT policies and interviews with stakeholders in six states (Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Texas) and at the federal level.