SoonerCare answers questions about non-emergent transportation for COVID-positive members 

Posted on: 1/8/21

The Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) provides non-emergent transportation for their members to physician offices and treatments. Because the service transports more than one person at a time, they are not able to transport COVID-positive patients. They have developed other resources for these patients. There are a couple of different tracks for Covid-positive/Covid-exposed members who seek transportation via SoonerRide: 
• Ambulatory members/general population: These members are offered mileage reimbursement versus curb-to-curb transport in order to protect the drivers from exposure. 
• Members in need of transport to dialysis: This is generally coordinated with the SoonerRide call center by the dialysis social workers. If a dialysis patient is COVID positive or exposed, a general denial will be issued by SoonerRide as they can’t safely transport in a shared ride set-up. Once a denial is issued by SoonerRide, the social worker will contact their local EMS service, providing the SoonerRide denial number, in order to arrange non-emergent, scheduled stretcher service to dialysis. Due to high volume of requests and scheduling details, EMS can’t always accommodate the request. SoonerRide coordinators are available to troubleshoot such events. 

Gertrude Hurd-Bowler, the OHCA SoonerRide manager, and her team work closely with the vendor Logisticare to assist in complex rider situations. Either reach out to her directly for more info or refer the OHCA member to her in order to troubleshoot a transportation situation. Her phone number is (405) 593-9755.