(a) The nursing facility is responsible for providing normal transportation for the recipient to medical services outside the facility. The attending physician must have ordered the medical services.
(b) Normal transportation is to and from the medical care provider of the recipient's choice, who is generally available and used by recipients of the locality for medical care included under the Texas Medical Assistance program. If a Title XIX provider is not in the locality, transportation is to and from the nearest appropriate Title XIX provider if the recipient so chooses. The term "locality" means the service area surrounding the nursing facility from which individuals ordinarily come or are expected to come for inpatient or outpatient services.
(c) Transportation charges, including non-emergency, routine ambulance services, involved in the certification or recertification of a recipient are the responsibility of the nursing facility.
(d) The facility may not charge the state's Medicaid health insuring agent, the recipient, the family, or responsible party for normal transportation as defined in this section. Normal transportation charges are covered in the monthly vendor rate. The facility may not use the state's Medicaid community-based Title XIX medical transportation program except to transport recipients for renal dialysis treatments.
(e) Charges for the following medically necessary ambulance services, when provided by a Medicaid-enrolled provider, are not the responsibility of the nursing facility, but are payable by the state's Medicaid health insuring agent as a Medicaid benefit:
  (1) emergency transport, which is ambulance service for a Medicaid recipient with an emergency medical condition. Emergency medical condition is defined as one which manifests itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity such that the absence of immediate medical attention could result in placing the recipient's health in serious jeopardy; and
  (2) nonemergency transport, under the following conditions:
    (A) the recipient is severely disabled, which is defined as a condition which limits mobility and requires confinement to bed at all times, prevents sitting unassisted at all times, or requires the monitoring of life support systems, including oxygen or intravenous infusion;
    (B) the severely disabled recipient cannot be transported by any means other than an ambulance without endangering the health or safety of the recipient; and
    (C) the nonemergency ambulance transportation of the severely disabled recipient is to or from a scheduled medical appointment and authorization has been received from the Texas Department of Health or its designee. If payment under the medical assistance program is denied because the facility failed to obtain prior authorization, the facility must pay for the service if presented a copy of the bill for which payment was denied.
(f) If ambulance services are reimbursable by the state's Medicaid health insuring agent, they are not the responsibility of the recipient, the family, or the responsible party.
(g) Nursing facilities are encouraged to use family, friends, sponsors, civic groups, or charitable organizations as resources for transportation services. If normal transportation is not obtainable from these sources, the facility must provide or purchase the appropriate services.

Source Note: The provisions of this §554.2320 adopted to be effective May 1, 1995, 20 TexReg 2393; amended to be effective March 1, 1998, 23 TexReg 1314; amended to be effective June 1, 2004, 29 TexReg 5416; amended to be effective August 31, 2004, 29 TexReg 8141; transferred effective January 15, 2021, as published in the Texas Register December 11, 2020, 45 TexReg 8871