New Bus System For Medicaid Patients

Times Herald Record

By Christian Livermore

NEWBURGH — A new bus system in Newburgh and New Windsor will transport Medicaid patients to medical appointments, replacing the 32,000 taxi trips a year the Orange County Department of Social Services used to pay for and saving about $400,000 a year.

The bus will make fixed stops in the Town and City of Newburgh and the Town of New Windsor. It will also make door-to-door stops when necessary. Transportation to medical appointments is a mandated benefit for Medicaid patients, and replacing cabs with a regular bus loop will cost about $420,000 a year, rather than the $817,000 in taxi fares the county paid last fiscal year.

"What we're trying to do is address mass transit for low-income people," said Orange County Social Services Commissioner David Jolly. The system is being tested now with people who call for rides to medical appointments, and it will go into full ridership April 20. Its regular stops will include St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital's Newburgh campus, Catholic Charities, The Greater Hudson Valley Family Health Center, Restorative Management and the medical corridor on Gidney Avenue. It will also allow transportation to and from work for welfare recipients who have recently found jobs, and eventually transport homeless people to county offices and other appointments.

"We've never provided transportation for our homeless population here before," Jolly said. Officials are also considering expanding the service to other areas. About half the Family Health Center's 17,000 patients don't have transportation, making the bus loop a huge help, said spokesman Ken Mackintosh. "For them this service could literally be lifesaving," he said. "We are so grateful to Orange County for their willingness to go above and beyond to ensure that people who need health care but have difficulty with transportation can get to their appointments and get the healthcare they need."