Since MedRide, a Colorado Springs-headquartered free transportation service for Medicaid recipients, enacted cutbacks on certain rides last Aug. 26, patients and healthcare providers have been experiencing the effects.

“People are kind of being left high-and-dry with a company they’ve been using for years,” said Jason Jones, a caseworker at Fountain Valley Health Care, a full-service primary care clinic at which 90% of clients have federal Medicaid insurance.

MedRide did not respond to a request for an interview but posted on its website that the decision to no longer provide routine ambulatory medical transportation in El Paso County is due to “ongoing statewide Medicaid reimbursement rate reductions.” The cost of providing transportation also was cited.

Other offices the business operates in Pueblo West, Highlands Ranch and Grand Junction are not affected by the change, the company said.

And people who use wheelchairs can still receive no-cost transportation through MedRide.

The call center, 719-545-3333, remains open for scheduling rides and having questions answered.

Routine ambulatory transportation refers to scheduled, non-emergency rides for patients who can walk and get into a vehicle without needing assistance, though drivers can help passengers to safely enter and exit the vehicle.

Drivers do not provide medical treatment or other care while patients are being transported to and from doctors’ appointments, physical therapy, dialysis, other procedures, pharmacies and hospital discharges.

“This is not a decision MedRide has taken lightly,” the notice on its website says.

Jones said the development “has definitely had an impact.”

While there are other Medicaid transportation businesses in El Paso County, MedRide provides the majority of the rides for patients, said Kelly Snyder, a registered nurse and director of population health at Peak Vista Community Health Centers. The Colorado Springs-based federally approved network operates 20 clinics in southern Colorado.

The news from MeRide was unexpected, Snyder said.

Health First Colorado, the state’s Medicaid system, is transitioning its Non-Emergency Medical Transportation brokerage to a single statewide model for ride scheduling that medical facilities and patients use.

The setup is being made in a phased approach. Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson, Larimer and Weld counties already have made the switch. El Paso County is expected to do so in January, Snyder said.

The system will be managed by MediDrive to centralize operations, increase transparency and secure a higher level of federal funding, she said providers were told.

But Snyder said her organization was unaware of impending cutoff by MediRide in El Paso County until just before it was implemented this past week.

A few days into MedRide dropping its non-emergency transportation, Snyder said some patients have complained that they haven’t been able to find rides, but it’s too early to discern the full impacts. There are “a lot more patients” who need ambulatory transportation than wheelchair transportation, she said.

“Most people we’ve been able to redirect to another company,” she said.

The Colorado Department of Health Care & Financing lists 28 credentialed non-emergency medical transportation services for El Paso County. MedRide is not on the list.

Peak Vista also provides vouchers for free bus rides and taxi rides for Medicaid clients seeking transportation. More than half — 57% — of Peak Vista’s 70,000 patients the clinics serve annually use Medicaid, according to the organization.

It’s unknown whether MedRide will reinstitute the nonemergency transportation part of its business in El Paso County.

MedRide told providers they had contacted clients to inform them of the service change, Snyder said.

Peak Vista’s care coordination team also can assist with questions about what’s going on, provide a list of alternative companies patients can use and offer translation services if needed, Snyder said. Call customer service at 719-632-5700.

This is not the first time MedRide has shut down the ambulatory part of its transportation.

In February 2025, the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing suspended MedRide’s contract over concerns about compliance and billing issues, which MedRide denied and argued that state regulations were not clear and kept changing.

MedRide and the state agency reached a contract settlement agreement in July 2025, which allowed the company to resume non-emergency medical transportation under additional oversight.