When patients lack access to transportation, they miss out on medical care. In fact, about 5.8 million people in the US miss or delay medical care annually because of transportation barriers. Uber Health helps remedy this by enabling caregivers and coordinators to connect their patients with transportation and delivery services through our platform.

In community-based care settings, transportation is a critical social determinant of health. With certain populations (such as people covered by Medicare Advantage), however, transportation may not necessarily be a covered benefit. In 2024, for instance, only 36% of regular Medicare Advantage plans included this benefit. When their patients aren’t covered, providers must balance enabling (and paying for) patient transportation with toeing the line of the federal regulatory framework of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS).

The good news: the US Department of Health and Human Services OIG (Office of the Inspector General) created a safe harbor amendment to the federal AKS that protects an “eligible entity” in providing free or discounted local transportation services if certain conditions are met.

According to this amendment, health plans, Medicare Advantage organizations, MCOs, ACOs, clinically integrated networks, and charitable organizations are among the eligible entities. They can provide free or discounted transportation services for their patients, including Medicare or Medicaid beneficiaries, if the eligible entity bears the cost of the transportation and meets these other requirements:

• The transportation services can only be offered to established patients, those who have selected and initiated contact by setting up an appointment with the provider. Transportation cannot be used as a recruiting tool.
• The purpose of the transportation must be for obtaining medically necessary items or services. The eligible entity should have a policy regarding the transportation services and apply it consistently and uniformly across their patient population, and not discriminate based on insurance type.
• The eligible entity cannot shift costs of the free or discounted transportation onto federal health care programs, other payors, or individuals. Providing vouchers to patients for transportation is OK, as well as services based on mileage or distance traveled.
• The transportation services must not be publicly marketed or advertised to patients, and no marketing may occur during the transportation.
• Eligible entities are prohibited from using air, luxury, or ambulance-level transportation. The OIG regulations also list parameters for shuttle service.
• Transportation is limited to local transportation, meaning within a 25-mile radius (as the crow flies) of the facility in urban areas and 75-mile radius for rural areas—unless the patient is discharged from an inpatient facility following inpatient admission.