DDS denies a transportation-rate benchmark petition; no new reimbursement floor takes effect
Oct 18, 2026 edition · GC-2026-0390 · Published 2026-10-18 · Version 1 · Final
The October 16 Notice Register publishes DDS’s denial of a request to link Service Code 875 transportation rates to certain Service Code 895 payments. DDS says the requested method lacks statutory authority. The decision creates no new reimbursement floor or provider implementation date.
What happened
The October 16, 2026 California Notice Register publishes the Department of Developmental Services’ denial of Gateway Transportation’s September 1 petition for a regional minimum reimbursement standard for Service Code 875 Transportation Company services. Gateway proposed the greater of the otherwise applicable DDS rate or 90 percent of an upper-tier regional benchmark based on certain Service Code 895 providers in the same regional-center area. DDS rejected that alternative methodology, explaining that the statutory rate-reform framework does not authorize substituting Service Code 895 reimbursement for Service Code 875 rates. The published decision does not adopt the requested floor.
DDS identifies Welfare and Institutions Code section 4519.10 as the existing framework for its Service Code 875 rate methodology and states that rate-reform regulations must be adopted by December 31, 2030. The decision preserves stakeholder participation in that rulemaking and notes a right to request reconsideration within 60 days under Government Code section 11340.7(c). The reproduced letter does not show its issuance date, so the October 16 publication date is not used to calculate a reconsideration deadline. Regional transportation-cost concerns remain a policy issue rather than an approved higher reimbursement entitlement.
Scope and timing
- Authority status
- Final
- Applicability
- Potentially applicable
- Audience
- Health systems, Provider networks
- Jurisdiction
- California
- Affected functions
- Revenue Cycle, Compliance, Legal
- Responsible owner
- Revenue Cycle
Why it matters
Networks coordinating developmental-disability transportation should avoid budgeting or contracting on the assumption that the requested regional floor was approved. The decision also identifies a future rate-reform forum for documented sustainability concerns.
Recommended action
Confirm that contracting and revenue-cycle assumptions continue to use the applicable adopted Service Code 875 methodology. Preserve evidence of regional transportation costs for future rulemaking. If reconsideration is being considered, obtain the actual decision date and legal advice before calculating its deadline.
Implementation playbook
- Recommended internal target: identify affected transportation arrangements and check that no proposed benchmark was treated as an adopted rate. Revenue Cycle · Due 2026-10-30
- Recommended internal target: assign monitoring of the DDS rate-reform rulemaking and retain relevant cost evidence. Compliance · Due 2026-11-06
Sources
- October 16 Notice Register: DDS transportation and DTSC pharmaceutical-waste petition decisionsOfficial · California Office of Administrative Law · 2026-10-16
Complete edition and supplemental material
This finding in the complete approved report →Regulatory horizons, CIA trends and implementation trackers remain in the full report.
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