Arkansas is canceling its contracts with a St. Louis company that took over responsibility this month for providing nonemergency medical transportation in 32 counties, the state Department of Human Services announced Thursday.
The announcement came after the department last week complained that Medical Transportation Management had failed to provide rides for some patients, including those on dialysis, resulting in some recipients missing their scheduled appointments.
The company also failed to provide rides for clients of 14 treatment centers for the developmentally disabled, hadn’t submitted applications for background checks on its drivers, failed to ensure its vehicles met requirements under the contract and hadn’t met requirements for quickly responding to recipients calls.
Atlanta-based Southeastrans, which provides the transportation service in an 11-county region in western Arkansas, on Saturday will begin transporting patients for dialysis and other urgent needs in the region served by Medical Transportation Management, the Human Services Department said in a news release.
Southeastrans will take over responsibility for transporting the rest of the patients in the region on Feb. 1.
Medical Transportation Management in October was awarded the contract for the region in northern, central and eastern Arkansas, including Pulaski County, after submitting the lowest bid. Southeastrans had submitted the second-lowest bid for the area.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.