Medicare and Medicaid have both experienced significant growth in total annual spending and member enrollment in recent years. According to the US Congressional Budget Office, this trend is expected to continue through 2031 and NEMT brokers should similarly expect to see increases in benefit use. The passing of H.R. 133 in December of 2020 and the codification of transportation as an essential benefit has allowed additional Medicaid members to take advantage of these benefits to access healthcare.

A person’s health and well-being are impacted by more than just his/her lifestyle choices and inherited traits. Environmental factors, community settings and other social conditions can also play major roles in how healthy a person can be. We recognize these influences as Social Determinants of Health.

The cost of student transportation has been on the rise in recent years. With more than 25 million school children taking one billion student trips each school year, rising costs can leave parents and boards of education concerned about the availability and affordability of getting children to school. This is especially true in cases where standard busing does not fit for the students’ needs and specialized transportation is required. To combat these rising costs and remove barriers to accessing education, CTS has made it our mission to increase the availability and affordability of specialized transportation services for students.

Last month, we discussed the ways in which changing technology helped create easier, more efficient transportation experiences for our customers. This month, we’d like to take a closer look at the call center technology we use and how it measures our employees’ success.

Technological advancements continue to reshape the way we think about and access non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT). Transportation management software, developed by companies like TripSpark, helps brokers and their employees schedule and track transportation events and keeps records of trip history as well as any specific needs or requests customers may have prior to their trip.

1965-1966 Authorized by Title XIX of the Social Security Act, both Medicare and Medicaid were passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Johnson in 1965. While Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) benefits were not included in this initial rollout, it did not take long for necessary transportation services to be added to the program.