Attention: Extreme heat or smoke may affect transportation services. During this time, only trips for emergencies and life-sustaining care may be available. Routine trips may need to be cancelled.
- You will be notified if your scheduled trip needs to change.
- Your ride provider is working hard to keep you and others safe.
What you can do
- Drink water
Bring cool water when you travel - Mask up
Use a surgical mask or N95 mask when the air quality is bad - Shade and shelter
Wait indoors or in a shady area for your ride - Use cooling items
Bring a cold towel, fan or cold pack - Get alerts
Sign up for local emergency and power company alerts - Power company
If you use medical equipment that depends on electricity, contact your power company to tell them about it - Access benefits
Request items such as air conditioners and air purifiers, if eligible
If you had to evacuate, we’re here to help
You can still get your medicine at any open pharmacy. Call your pharmacy or your health plan for help.
If you need help getting a ride for care or to pick up medicine, let us know.
Only return home when officials say it is safe to do so.
Transportation Options
Do you need help with transportation to your health care appointments?
Non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) services are a covered Medicaid benefit for Columbia Pacific members. If you have no way to get to a covered health appointment, a rideshare program called NW Rides can get you there. Depending on your needs, you may be provided rides, get passes to ride the bus or get help paying for gas. Contact NW Rides toll-free at 888-793-0439 to talk about your transportation options.
Check out our Riders Guide for details about the transportation program.
If you want a printed copy of the Rider's Guide, please contact Columbia Pacific CCO Customer Service at 855-722-8206 or TTY 711. We will send you the printed Rider's Guide within five business days.
Call center hours
Monday-Friday
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Every other Wednesday
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
503-861-0657
Toll-free: 888-793-0439
TTY: 711
The call center is closed on New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. NW Rides’ services are provided 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. To arrange after-hours or weekend transportation, call as far ahead as possible to schedule your rides.
2025 NEMT recap
- Total NEMT users
- 3,053
- Total trips
- 81,229
- Total distance traveled
- 1,468,773 miles
Understanding transportation services
To make things simple, we created a series of videos and a one‑page guide to help you understand how NW Rides works and what transportation options are available.
You can watch the videos or download the handout in your preferred language. Videos include subtitles in English or Spanish. Click each video image to open up the video player.
Transportation videos
NW Rides NEMT Program Evaluation Findings
CareOregon, in partnership with NW Rides, sends out a yearly satisfaction survey asking stakeholders about their experiences with utilizing transportation services through, driving for, and operating for NW Rides. The evaluation questions and what we heard from members, drivers, and providers from the surveys and focus groups are included in the NW Rides NEMT Evaluation Snapshot Report below. Feedback from the program evaluation is used to make improvements to the NEMT program.
