Medicaid Transportation Arranged by MLTC Plans Slated to Move to MAS on March 1, 2024

LeadingAge NY and the NYS Adult Day Services Association (NYSADSA) met with the Medicaid Transportation staff of the Department of Health (DOH) last week to discuss the State’s transition to Medical Answering Service (MAS) of Medicaid transportation services provided to Managed Long Term Care (MLTC) enrollees.

This transition will start on March 1, 2024 and affect MLTC enrollees across the state. On Dec. 1, 2023, the State transitioned all trips managed by Modivcare to MAS on Long Island. This next transition involves all transportation managed by MLTC plans throughout the state.

LeadingAge NY emphasized the importance of DOH reaching out to all provider types to ensure that they have MAS accounts and are familiar with arranging MAS trips in the MAS portal. We asked them to specifically reach out to long term care providers.

The Department has issued two documents that provide clarification on the process moving forward: a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document for MLTCs and an MLTC letter to social adult day care (SADC) programs on the transition.

Many SADC programs utilize their own fleets and contract with MLTC plans to transport SADC participants to and from program. Transitioning to MAS will be quite disruptive for the participants and would leave program fleets unused. The Department is currently in the process of assessing the prevalence of SADC fleets throughout the state and will be communicating next steps on how they will address this concern. They will be reaching out to MLTC plans to gather data to inform their plan moving forward.

There is also concern that at this time SADC programs are not authorized to arrange transportation in the MAS portal. DOH will be following up with MAS on this issue. SADC programs should note that transportation for their members will continue to be a covered benefit, paid for either by MLTC or by Medicaid under the statewide broker.

LeadingAge NY will be sure to share any new information from the Department on this transition.

Contact: Meg Everett, meverett@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8871