Faegre Drinker Consulting Client MTAC Contributes to Transportation to Health Care Legislation

A multiyear advocacy effort by the Medical Transportation Access Coalition (MTAC) — a coalition managed and advised by Faegre Drinker Consulting to educate federal and state policymakers and other stakeholders about the benefits of medical transportation and the need for policies that support continued access to transportation services — resulted in enacted law within the recently enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.

The Act will codify the Medicaid non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) benefit into law while incorporating program integrity safeguards. Importantly, the legislation will provide greater certainty for the NEMT industry and health plans as well as help patients access timely health care, including dialysis treatments, mental and behavioral health care, and substance use disorder treatment.

The language provided is based on a previously MTAC-supported bipartisan bill, H.R. 3935, the Protecting Patients Transportation to Care Act, which had passed the House of Representatives three times.

Since 2017, with support from three transportation brokerage companies: Logisticare, MTM, and Southeastrans, which are Faegre Drinker clients, MTAC has served as the largest multi- stakeholder policy coalition solely focused on protecting and advancing NEMT. Coalition membership has grown to 28+ organizations including patient organizations, health plans, national trade associations and transportation companies.

As part of this engagement, Faegre Drinker Consulting professionals have lobbied key legislative and Executive agency offices, conducted first-of-its-kind research to demonstrate the cost- effectiveness of providing transportation to avoid more expensive health care costs, and coordinated with coalition members on aligned advocacy and research projects.

The Faegre Drinker Consulting team has included senior director Josh Andrews, director Tricia Beckmann, principals Mike Adelberg and Nick Manetto, advisor Vincent Giglierano and partner Libby Baney.