Transportation Medicaid rates by code

The transportation line groups the codes billed mostly by ambulance services and non-emergency transportation providers. Across the 51 state programs we cover, 41 codes in this line have a published fee-for-service rate in five or more states. By code set, the line is made up of 34 HCPCS Level II transportation and supply codes, 6 HCPCS Level II state Medicaid agency codes and 1 HCPCS Level II temporary national code.

How to read the index

• Code opens the code's page: every state's rate ranked, the unit, a per-hour figure for timed codes, the managed-care rule and a Medicare comparison where the units match.
• States is the number of state Medicaid programs that publish a fee-for-service rate for the code. A higher count makes the median more representative.
• Median rate is the middle published amount across those states, in the units they use. When states publish a code in different units, the median mixes them, so open the code before relying on it.

Why transportation rates differ between states

• Ambulance payment is usually a base rate per transport plus mileage, and states weight the two differently.
• Emergency and non-emergency trips, advanced and basic life support, and urban and rural trips can each carry their own rates.
• Many states run non-emergency medical transportation through a broker, so the state fee schedule covers only part of the benefit.

Billing and units

The base rate is billed once per trip and mileage per loaded mile under its own code. Origin and destination modifiers on the claim identify where the trip started and ended.