Michigan Health and Hospital Association (MHA) Henry Ford Health (HFH) and Michigan Public Transit Association (MPTA) teamed up with Transportation Riders United (TRU) to bring the healthcare and public transit sectors together to discuss the issues facing each sector at a forum on March 19th, 2026.
This event helped healthcare sector representatives understand why transportation is such a complicated issue and TRU’s role in education, advocacy and mobilization of communities to bring about the services Michiganders need.
Deborah Freer, Assistant Director of TRU and John Dulmes, Director of the Michigan Public Transit Association, were able to explain current services, the funding landscape and upcoming opportunities to improve/expand transit at the county and state level, including joining the Move MI Transportation Alliance state coalition. At the Public Health event on March 19, 2026 the following issues were identified by participants:
- It would be helpful to have a list of hospital contacts and transit agency contacts to facilitate coordination of non-emergency medical trips (NEMT) patient trips.
- It would be helpful for third-party paratransit providers to be held to the same service standards as public transit agencies.
- Michigan Medicine is the top hospital in Michigan and draws patients from everywhere around Michigan and the world. Paratransit services and NEMT trips require advanced reservations, vary widely in fees for pick-ups, per mile charges, late fees and the services they provide. This particular Michigan hospital spends 70% of their transportation budget on 30% of patient rides.
- It is cheaper to fly patients long distances than it is to provide ground transportation, however it is “illegal” to do so with NEMT funds.
- Patients are backed up in the emergency department with long waits for a bed, so hospital staff are pressured to discharge patients as soon as possible. Back-ups in the emergency department cause fights between patients, and between patients and staff, resulting in high stress for all, a need for an increased police presence and people being trespassed from the local hospital.
- Transportation benefits are structured so you can’t use them because of the need for 24-48 hours notice for NEMT trips.
- NEMT transportation is a pain point for every hospital system in the state.
- There are some NEMT models that we can explore and highlight in the next healthcare-transit forum.
Future events with this group will include topics such as NEMT transit models that work and potential data collection from Michigan hospitals to frame the issue in a compelling way for decision-makers.
Additionally, TRU published a report with our findings after extensive research and partnerships with the healthcare community. Read our Public Health, Public Transit White Paper below!