The Department of Health (DOH) recently held a webinar regarding the management of Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) for long term care and other health care providers. Medical Answering Service (MAS), soon to be the sole statewide broker for the whole state, provided an overview of their portal to access and manage transportation.

LeadingAge NY has been working to help resolve member challenges with DOH and MAS regarding resident transportation trip cancellations to medical and specialty appointments. Last-minute cancellations and lack of vendors were not covered by the presentation, though they may be addressed in their Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). LeadingAge NY will be following up with DOH and MAS on these systemic concerns and will be following up with members to see if concerns have been resolved.

The portal overview did indicate that same-day appointments or immediate trip arrangements for discharges are possible in the portal. Members should let us know if these are, in fact, workable in the system. The system also allows for recurring appointments.

The presentation addressed the following topics:

• Overview of Medicaid NEMT
• How to select medically appropriate transportation for Medicaid members
• A review of the MAS website and its resources
• A demonstration of the MAS online portal

The webinar recording is available here. The link has also been posted to the Health Commerce System (HCS).

Please share this information with current and new staff involved in arranging transportation. LeadingAge NY will provide the FAQ when it is released. If you have additional questions or concerns, please feel free to communicate them to LeadingAge NY or email them to ltcsurveyops@health.ny.gov.

Please feel free to reach out to Meg Everett (meverett@leadingageny.org) or Karen Lipson (klipson@leadingageny.org) regarding additional concerns or information regarding the resolution of challenges already raised.

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