Form
Level of Need form
For a patient who can't use public transportation or mileage reimbursement. A health care provider fills it in, giving the reason based on what the patient can do, not only their diagnosis.
For providers
Medicaid Rides to Treatment
How to book Medicaid rides to treatment for your patients in Rhode Island, and how to spend less staff time on the phone doing it.
Booking a ride
Rhode Island's Medicaid rides (non-emergency medical transportation, or NEMT) are run by MTM Health for the state. Clinics book rides for their patients by phone.
- 2 business days' notice (routine)
- 24/7 booking (urgent)
- Cancel 24 hours ahead
- Book routine rides at least two business days ahead. MTM takes them Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Urgent rides, for a patient who has to be seen the same day, can be booked 24/7.
- Cancel a ride at least 24 hours ahead.
Who qualifies
Medicaid members going to a Medicaid-covered service who can't find other transportation. Rhode Islanders 60 and older who aren't on Medicaid may qualify through the state's elderly transportation program.
Book, change or cancel a ride
TTY: 711
Ride hasn't come?
Call if the driver is more than 15 minutes late for a booked pickup, 45 minutes after you called for a will-call ride, or when the appointment starts in 15 minutes or less.
Complaints (MTM's We Care Line)
Or use MTM's online form.
Questions from clinics
MTM's Rhode Island community outreach team.
Save staff time
Less time on the phone
Ways to cut down the calls it takes to get patients to treatment and home again.
Set up recurring trips
For patients who come on a regular schedule, MTM can set up recurring trips for up to six months at a time, so each ride doesn't need its own call. Under the state's rule, a licensed medical or behavioral health provider requests or changes them.
Book the ride home with the ride there
Give MTM a return time when you book. Without one, the ride home is a "will-call", so your staff call MTM when the patient is ready and the driver has up to 45 minutes to arrive. When you know how long a visit takes, a set return time saves a call per patient per visit.
Help patients keep their recurring trips
Patients with more than three no-shows in a month can lose their recurring trips and have to book each ride at least two days ahead. They can ask for them back after 60 days. Remind patients to cancel rides they won't use at least 24 hours ahead.
Offer mileage reimbursement
If a friend, family member or volunteer can drive the patient in their own car, MTM can pay them back for the mileage at the federal rate. MTM has to approve it in advance, and the trip log is below.
Ask about booking online
MTM says rides can be booked online through MTM Link. Ask MTM's Rhode Island outreach team (CO-RI@mtm-inc.net) whether your clinic can use it for your patients' rides.
- For the front desk
Printable clinic cheat sheet
One page with MTM's numbers, the booking rules, these tips and the forms, to keep by the phone.
Forms and rules
- PDF
Mileage reimbursement trip log (PDF)
MTM's trip log for rides paid back as mileage.
- MTM page
MTM Health: for medical and behavioral health facilities
MTM's Rhode Island page for clinics, with its booking rules and forms.
- Rule
Rhode Island's NEMT rule (210-RICR-20-00-2)
Who qualifies, recurring trips (standing orders), no-shows and mileage reimbursement, in the state's own words.
Checked against MTM Health's Rhode Island pages and the state's rule on October 27, 2026.
For clinics and member organizations
Ride problems taking up your staff's time?
Tell SUMHLC what's happening, like long holds, late pickups or will-call waits, so we can raise it with the state. Please don't include patient names or other patient details.