JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – More residents have been voicing their concerns about the issues plaguing medical transportation facilitated by Medicaid following the arrests of 20 drivers of a transportation company that was a subcontractor of Modivcare.
Earlier this week, the I-TEAM spoke to Kevin Emerson who was on his way to his first dialysis appointment at a new provider.
Emerson said he switched to a practice closer to his home in Jacksonville in the face of unreliable transportation.
“I’m not allowed to drive right now because I’ve had surgery on my arm,” Emerson said.
Emerson has been using Modivcare — a company contracted by Florida to coordinate transportation for Medicaid patients to their health-related appointments — to get to his appointments for the past few weeks. It’s offered through his Medicaid plan, managed by United Health Care.
“It’s been horrible. They don’t show up. They show up an hour and a half early, which they did on the first trip. When they don’t show up, they don’t bother. They don’t text you and tell you,” Emerson said.
Until he saw our recent story on a Modivcare subcontractor, Emerson didn’t know other patients were also having problems getting a ride.
RELATED | I-TEAM: Patients left stranded by non-emergency medical transportation provider
Last week, the I-TEAM reported that 22 people tied to a Modivcare subcontractor, named Sweet Transportation, were charged with organized fraud. Most were taken into custody over the last few weeks.
Emerson doesn’t know whether Sweet Transportation was responsible for his rides.
“Very frustrating. This isn’t a trip down to the local convenience store. This is a life-saving treatment I go through three times a week,” Emerson said. “And when I don’t know whether or not they’re gonna show up, if I have a ride, it’s really frustrating because you get really sick if you don’t get your treatment. It’s horrible. It really is.”
Emerson said had his girlfriend drive him to his first appointment at the new provider because he didn’t want to be late.
We heard from several other people who also said they’ve had problems with Modivcare since the News4JAX I-TEAM reported on it last week.
Barbara Pepe, who uses Modivcare out of her home in Middleburg, said she has been having similar issues.
“I actually found Sweet Transportation to be super reliable,” Pepe said in a voicemail. “It’s Modivcare, in my estimation, that could not care less, whether a person gets picked up on time, whether they miss their ride, whether they’re left stranded at a doctor’s office. I’ve experienced all of that.”
The I-TEAM asked Modivcare whether they or another entity audits their subcontractors’ rides, and if they’ll look into whether drivers were paid for Emerson’s scheduled rides to dialysis that he says never happened.
Modivcare provided the following statement:
“Modivcare takes the privilege of providing transportation services to our nation’s most vulnerable populations very seriously. Through our proprietary network of NEMT providers, we successfully coordinate over 5 million rides annually in the state of Florida, of which 99.7% are complaint free. All of our efforts are dedicated to providing the best transportation experience for the members of our health plan partners. We are reaching out to the member to help resolve this issue and look forward to continually improving our service experience for our members.”
United Health Care also told News4JAX they are committed to helping their members with their transportation needs and they are working with Modivcare to ensure Emerson’s future transportation needs are met. They also said he will have access to a new transportation option covered under his plan Jan. 1.
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