How to book Medicaid transportation in New York: the 6 steps

1. 1

   Confirm your Medicaid eligibility

   You must be an active New York Medicaid member traveling to a Medicaid-covered medical service.

2. 2

   Have your information ready

   Medicaid CIN, appointment date and time, the provider’s name and address, and any mobility needs (walker, wheelchair, oxygen).

3. 3

   Call MAS at 1-844-666-6270

   Book at least 72 hours (3 business days) before your appointment. Same-day requests are usually denied unless urgent.

4. 4

   Ask for DachiPlus by name

   Say “I would like DachiPlus to be my transportation provider.” MAS first decides the right type of transportation for your trip, then considers your choice of provider.

5. 5

   Write down your confirmation number

   You’ll need it if you have to change or cancel the trip.

6. 6

   Be ready at pickup

   Be ready ahead of the scheduled time; the driver provides door-through-door assistance.

Step 1 — Confirm your Medicaid eligibility

You need to be an active New York Medicaid member. If you have Medicaid Managed Care (Healthfirst, MetroPlus, Fidelis, etc.) or HARP, the same MAS process applies.

Step 2 — Have your information ready

• Medicaid CIN (client identification number, on your Medicaid card)
• Date of birth
• Exact appointment date and time
• Medical provider's name and full address
• Your pickup address
• Any mobility needs (wheelchair, oxygen, etc.)

Step 3 — Call MAS at 1-844-666-6270

Call at least 72 hours (3 business days) before your appointment. Same-day requests are usually denied unless it's urgent.

Step 4 — Request DachiPlus by name

When you call MAS at 1-844-666-6270 to book a ride, you can ask for DachiPlus by name. Say: "I would like DachiPlus to be my transportation provider." MAS first decides the right type of transportation for your trip, then considers your choice of provider among the companies enrolled for that type.

That order comes from the state's Medicaid Transportation Policy Manual (section 2.3, effective August 25, 2023), which has MAS assign approvable trips "based first upon the medically appropriate mode of transportation, then by enrollee's choice among participating transportation vendors, and finally, at the discretion of the transportation broker." Your request is considered, not automatic: the Department of Health notes that a Preferred Provider sometimes covers a region and that choice may be restricted in some cases.

Step 5 — Write down your confirmation number

You'll need it if you have to change or cancel the trip.

Step 6 — Be ready at pickup

DachiPlus arrives at the scheduled time. The driver helps you board, drives you door-through-door to your appointment, and coordinates the return pickup. You pay nothing.

72 hours means three business days

This trips people up more often than any other part of the process, because the two are not the same span of time. Three business days excludes weekends and public holidays, so a call placed on Friday afternoon does not satisfy the rule for a Monday or Tuesday appointment — the clock effectively restarts on Monday morning. If your appointment falls early in the week, book the week before rather than counting back seventy-two hours on a calendar.

The same arithmetic applies around holidays, when a single closed day can push a request outside the window that looked comfortable when you made it. Booking earlier than the minimum costs nothing and is the simplest way to avoid the problem entirely; there is no penalty for arranging a trip well in advance, and it materially improves the chance of getting the provider you asked for.

The return trip is a separate leg — decide how to handle it

A round trip is two authorised legs, not one, and the return is where most bad experiences begin. You generally have two options, and which you choose should depend on how predictable the appointment is. A scheduled return fixes a pickup time, which suits a dialysis session or an appointment of known length. A will-call return means you telephone when you are actually finished, which suits anything open-ended — a specialist running late, imaging that leads to more imaging, an infusion that takes longer than planned. Appointments on a large campus such as Stony Brook University Hospital or North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset are particularly worth booking will-call, since getting from a clinic back to the correct pickup entrance can itself take fifteen minutes.

The mistake is booking a scheduled return for an unpredictable appointment. If you are still in the waiting room when the vehicle arrives, the driver cannot hold indefinitely, and you are left arranging a fresh trip from the clinic. Will-call is usually the safer default outside recurring treatment, with the trade-off that you wait for a vehicle to be dispatched rather than having one already on its way. Ask which you have been given before you hang up — assuming one and receiving the other is a common and entirely avoidable surprise.

If the vehicle does not arrive

Call MAS at 1-844-666-6270 with your confirmation number rather than only calling the provider. MAS holds the authorisation and can see what was assigned, reassign the trip, or record the failure — and that record is what matters if it happens again. Note the time you called and what you were told; our guide to problems with Medicaid transport explains how to build a paper trail that carries weight.

Cancelling deserves the same care as booking. If your appointment moves, cancel the ride rather than simply not travelling — repeated no-shows are recorded against the member, and they can affect how readily future requests are approved. A cancellation takes a minute; the consequence of skipping it lasts longer. For the full picture of how the broker works end to end, see our MAS Medicaid booking guide.