Scott County Transit now hauling Medicaid recipients

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Scott County Transit is getting back into the Medicaid transport business.

Executive director Marilyn Schlosser said the transit system should get the results of the driver background checks any day now after which it will receive Medical Transportation Management credentials and begin providing nonemergency medical transportation services for Medicaid recipients.

"We had stopped doing it for a while, and now we are getting back into it," Schlosser said.

At the time Scott County Transit board decided to stop providing Medicaid NEMT services, there were plenty of providers.

"That number has dwindled somewhat," Schlosser said. She said staff members have recently been getting inquiries from clients who use the regular transportation service about providing Medicaid transport.

"They know that we provide safe, efficient transportation," Schlosser said. "They always want to know, 'Why don't you guys do Medicaid?'"

Mark Hensley, a Scott County Transit board member, agreed the need for another Medicaid NEMT provider is there, noting there are more than 9,400 Medicaid recipients in the county.

"We just want to provide quality, affordable transportation to the community," Hensley said. And adding Medicaid NEMT services, he said, is just another way to service the community.

"Over the past 12 months, we've provided 20,241 trips," Hensley said.

Both regular and Medicaid NEMT services are "only for the individuals in Scott County and the city of Sikeston -- parts of the city of Sikeston fall in New Madrid County," Schlosser said.

Destinations do not have to be within the county or Sikeston, however.

"Last year, we took 1,300 trips to Cape Girardeau for doctor visits -- that's what those trips are generally for," Hensley said.

NEMT runs will also go to Cape Girardeau and beyond, if needed. "We'll also be providing trips to St. Louis if it is a medical trip that is approved through Medicaid," Schlosser said.

Scott County Transit currently has six vans. With the possibility of a van being tied up with the longer trips, another driver has already been hired.

"If it goes well and we get a large list of passengers needing services we may need to add another driver -- and that would be great: we could put another person to work," Schlosser said. "But a lot of the Medicaid trips will be here in town so they can go along with the other trips we're already doing."

For more information about Scott County Transit, call 573-472-3030.

Pertinent address:

Sikeston, MO