Medical Transportation FAQs

Non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) is a ride to medical care for someone who doesn’t need an ambulance but can’t safely use a car, taxi or rideshare. That covers riders who walk with help, stay in a wheelchair, need a stretcher, or need a bariatric vehicle. We drive door-through-door, and the crew assists at both ends.

No. We provide transportation, not medical care or monitoring on board. We never take anyone to an emergency room, and we don’t move patients between hospitals for a higher level of care. If this is a medical emergency, call 911.

Ambulatory, wheelchair, stretcher and bariatric transportation, plus dialysis rides, hospital and hospice discharges, long-distance trips and rides to non-medical events. Every level of service is door-through-door.

All of Northern Virginia, Washington, DC, and Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland, plus long-distance trips from anywhere in Virginia. Our WMATC authority 3449 covers trips across DC and the Maryland suburbs, and our Virginia DMV certificate covers every Virginia county.

We run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, including holidays. Dispatch answers around the clock at (703) 304-7889.

Yes. H&M Transport was the first NEMT provider in Virginia to earn NEMTAC accreditation, and we have served the region for 16 years.

A round trip is $55 per leg, with 5 miles included each way and $3.00 per mile after that. A one-way trip or hospital discharge is $90 plus $3.00 per mile. We quote every trip before you book, and the full rate card is on our rates page. Regional price ranges are in our 2026 medical transportation cost index.

A round trip is $230 per leg, with 5 miles included each way and $4.00 per mile after that. A one-way trip or hospital discharge is $260 plus $4.00 per mile. For example, a round trip of 8 miles each way costs $242 per leg, or $484 total. Every stretcher trip runs with two crew, bed to bed, and we quote the trip before you book.

We accept cash and major credit cards, and a 3% fee applies to card payments. Payment is due at the time of the trip unless you’ve arranged otherwise with dispatch. Medicaid members book through their plan’s broker, and Medicare Advantage members should ask their plan first.

Usually, yes. Under IRS rules, transportation that is mainly for and essential to medical care counts as a medical expense, and that is the same test HSA and FSA plans use. So a ride to a medical appointment can generally be paid from an HSA or FSA or counted toward an itemized medical deduction. We’ll send an itemized receipt for any trip on request. Your plan administrator makes the final call on reimbursement, and a tax advisor can confirm the deduction for your situation.

Original Medicare (Parts A and B) does not cover wheelchair or stretcher van rides. It pays for ambulance transport only when an ambulance is medically necessary. Some Medicare Advantage plans include a transportation benefit, and if yours does, ask the plan for H&M Transport by name. Otherwise you can book with us directly at our published rates, from $55 per leg on a round trip.

Ask your plan. Call the member services number on your plan card, ask whether your benefit covers wheelchair or stretcher vans, and request H&M Transport by name. If the plan books through a vendor that doesn’t use us, you can still book with us directly and pay the published rate.

Call the transportation number on your Medicaid ID card; the brokers we work with are MTM Health and SafeRide Health. Request H&M Transport specifically when you book your ride. Covered rides to medical appointments cost the member nothing.

H&M Transport is not a Medicaid provider in Maryland. In DC, we serve members of UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of the District of Columbia, through SafeRide Health. Anyone can also book with us directly at our published rates.

Eligible veterans can get travel help through the VA’s Beneficiary Travel program, including special-mode transport such as a wheelchair van when the VA approves it in advance. Those rides are arranged through the travel office at your VA medical center. H&M Transport is not a VA travel vendor, but any veteran or family can book with us directly at our published rates, from $55 per leg on a round trip.

We need at least three hours’ notice for same-day requests and for discharges from a hospital or nursing facility, and we can cover most of those inside that window. Booking 24 hours in advance guarantees availability.

Cancel or change a trip at least two hours before pickup to avoid a fee. Call dispatch at (703) 304-7889 any time, day or night.

Book the return as a will-call. If you can, call dispatch a little before your appointment wraps up, and we’ll start a driver your way so you wait as little as possible. If you can’t call until you’re finished, that’s fine: we’ll route the closest available driver, and our standard is to pick you up within 45 minutes of your call. The earlier you call, the shorter your wait. If you’d rather have the driver wait on site, prescheduled wait time is $75 an hour for wheelchair trips and $100 an hour for stretcher trips.

Yes. Give us the days, times and destination once and we set up a standing order, so every session is booked without calling each time. Most dialysis riders pair a standing order with a will-call return.

Yes. Hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and senior communities book on contracted rates through our facilities program. Case managers and discharge planners can reach dispatch around the clock at (703) 304-7889.

Yes, on every trip. The driver comes to your door, helps you to the vehicle, and walks or wheels you inside at the destination. If a wheelchair rider can’t manage the steps, a stair chair team costs $75 each way.

The driver takes you inside, lets the front desk know you’ve arrived and makes sure you’re checked in. If you’d like the driver to stay for the whole appointment, ask when you book; prescheduled wait time is $75 an hour for wheelchair trips and $100 an hour for stretcher trips.

Yes. One family member or caregiver can ride along at no extra charge, and service animals are welcome. Our vans have one extra seat, so we can’t take more than one companion.

Yes. You can ride in your own manual or power wheelchair, and it’s secured at four points before the vehicle moves. If you don’t have one, we can provide a wheelchair; just tell dispatch when you book.

Yes. You can bring your own portable oxygen, and it is secured for the ride, or we can supply oxygen at $35 per 2-liter tank. Tell us when you book, including your flow rate, so the right setup is in the vehicle.

Yes. Ask when you book and we’ll honor it whenever a driver is available. If we can’t for a particular trip, dispatch will tell you before the ride.

Most endoscopy and surgery centers won’t release a sedated patient to a rideshare or taxi driver. H&M Transport is different: our driver comes inside, meets you at discharge and takes you door-through-door to your home, and most local centers accept us as your ride. Confirm with your center when you schedule, and tell us the procedure time so we can plan the pickup. A family member is welcome to ride along.

Yes. We take riders to weddings, graduations, family visits, church and other events. Pricing works the same way as a medical trip: level of service, distance, stairs and waiting time. If there’s no set end time, call us when you’re ready, or book the driver to wait on site.

Yes. Every driver is CPR and first-aid certified and completes patient and elder sensitivity training and defensive driving courses.

Yes. Every employee is subject to drug testing, and H&M Transport is a smoke-free and alcohol-free workplace.

Our vehicles carry monitoring systems and dash cameras that track speed, braking and acceleration, so we can coach drivers and review any trip.

All our vehicles are 2018 or newer and certified crash test compliant, and every vehicle is inspected weekly. Vehicles are disinfected after each trip and detailed weekly.

We use Stryker, Ferno, Drive and Medline wheelchairs, stretchers and transport equipment, the same brands trusted by local fire and EMS departments.

Yes. Stretcher transportation is for riders who can’t sit upright safely, such as after surgery or while bedridden. Every stretcher trip runs with two crew, bed to bed.

Yes. Our bariatric service uses specialized vehicles with wider ramps and roomier interiors, and we add a second crew member when the transfer calls for it. Call with the rider’s weight and how they move, so we send the right vehicle and crew. Bariatric round trips start at $100 per leg.

Yes. If the rider can’t manage the steps, we send a stair chair team for $75 each way. If the rider can walk the steps with the driver’s help, there’s no extra charge. Tell us about steps at either end when you book so the right crew comes.

Tell us when you book, so dispatch can plan for it. The driver comes to the door, brings the rider to the vehicle, and hands them off to staff at the destination; we never leave a rider at the curb. A family member or caregiver can ride along, and for recurring trips we try to keep the same driver so the face is familiar.

Yes, with notice. Tell us about any isolation precautions when you book. The crew wears the protective equipment the precautions call for, and the vehicle is disinfected after the trip. An additional charge applies, and dispatch will quote it when you book.

Yes. We take hospice patients home from the hospital, between facilities and to appointments, by wheelchair or by stretcher with two crew. We work with the hospice agency on timing, move at the family’s pace, and a family member can ride along.

Yes, coast to coast. Trips of 50 miles or more use long-distance rates: $175 plus $4.50 per mile for wheelchair and $300 plus $6.00 per mile for stretcher. Call dispatch for a quote.

Yes. Long-distance stretcher trips (50 miles or more) cost $300 plus $6.00 per mile, with two crew for the whole trip. Long-distance wheelchair trips cost $175 plus $4.50 per mile. A 200-mile stretcher move, for example, costs $1,500. Call dispatch with both addresses and we’ll quote the trip and plan the timing.

All of them in our service area, for appointments, admissions and discharges. That includes Inova Fairfax, Inova Alexandria, Inova Fair Oaks, Inova Loudoun and Inova Mount Vernon, UVA Health Prince William, Sentara Northern Virginia, Virginia Hospital Center, and in Maryland, Holy Cross Hospital and Adventist HealthCare White Oak. We never take anyone to an emergency room; for an emergency, call 911.