Non-Emergency Medical Transportation in Silver Spring, MD

Where we take Silver Spring riders

Riderwood on Gracefield Road is the single address we serve most in Silver Spring. It is a campus rather than a building — multiple residences and its own medical center — and the trips that come off it run the full range from a routine specialist visit to a skilled-nursing transfer.

Across the wider Montgomery County corridor we run regularly to Shady Grove Medical Center, and to the senior communities of Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Rockville, among them Maplewood Park Place, Brighton Gardens of Friendship Heights, Sunrise of Bethesda and Sunrise of Rockville. Across the District line, see our Washington DC page.

Closer to home, Holy Cross Hospital on Forest Glen Road and Adventist HealthCare White Oak Medical Center on Healing Way are the two hospitals most Silver Spring riders use, and we run appointments and discharges at both daily. Eastward we run into Prince George’s County — UM Capital Region Medical Center, and Kaiser Permanente’s Largo medical center and its West Hyattsville medical center, which replaced the Prince George’s center in 2022.

The DC crossing is the reason most Silver Spring families call us rather than a Maryland-only operator. A great deal of Silver Spring’s specialist care happens across the District line — MedStar Georgetown, George Washington University Hospital, Sibley Memorial, Howard University Hospital — and a carrier without WMATC authority either turns those trips down or runs them without the authority to do so. We hold it.

If your regular destination is a Silver Spring hospital or dialysis center we haven’t named here, call and tell us which one. We’ll confirm the approach before the first trip rather than on it.

Choosing your level of service

Four options, and the right one depends on how your rider moves rather than how far they’re going.

Ambulatory is for someone who can walk to and from the vehicle, with a steadying arm if needed. The driver assists at the door and again at the destination.

Wheelchair transportation is for a rider who stays in their chair for the trip. The chair goes up a ramp on our minivans or a hydraulic lift on our full-size vans, and it is secured with a four-point strap system before the vehicle moves. You don’t need to own a wheelchair — we can provide one.

Stretcher is for a rider who can’t sit upright safely for the journey. Common after surgery, during a decline, or when someone is discharged from a hospital to a skilled nursing or rehabilitation facility. Two crew members run every stretcher trip, so there is always a second pair of hands for the transfer at both ends.

Bariatric applies over 300 pounds and uses equipment rated for the weight, with additional crew. We run fewer bariatric vehicles than standard ones, so give us as much notice as you can.

If you’re not sure which applies, call and describe the situation. Getting this right before the vehicle is dispatched matters more than almost anything else about the booking — the wrong vehicle at the door means a delay, and a delay on a medical appointment is rarely just an inconvenience.

For prices, pickup tips and local destinations by service, see our pages on wheelchair transportation in Silver Spring and stretcher transportation in Silver Spring.

Pickup in Silver Spring and the Montgomery corridor

Silver Spring runs from downtown high-rises to post-war single-family streets within a couple of miles, and the pickup is different in each.

Downtown high-rise and condo buildings have the same constraint as Arlington’s: a raised-roof wheelchair van does not fit in most residential garages. That isn’t a problem — we pick up at the street entrance or the loading bay instead. What we need is the building, which entrance it prefers, and whether the front desk wants a vehicle logged in before it arrives.

Riderwood and the large senior campuses need the building, not just the campus address. On a campus with several residences and its own internal road network, “Riderwood” is not an address a crew can drive to. Give us the residence name and the entrance.

Single-family homes in Takoma Park, Woodside and the older Silver Spring neighborhoods often have steps up from the sidewalk and no driveway apron. Tell us the number of steps and whether there’s a handrail — that’s the difference between one crew member and two with a stair chair.

Traffic is the scheduling problem. Getting from Silver Spring to a Virginia destination in the morning means the Beltway or the District, and neither is quick. We schedule around the corridor rather than the mileage. If your appointment is across the river in the morning peak, expect us considerably earlier than the distance suggests.

Stairs are the usual complication. A stretcher does not go down a narrow turn easily, and a wheelchair does not go down exterior steps at all without a stair chair and two crew. None of that is a problem if we know in advance.

Dialysis and standing orders

Dialysis is the ride we run most often, and it’s the one where reliability compounds. A patient on a three-day-a-week schedule takes more than 150 trips a year with us. Missing one isn’t a scheduling inconvenience; it’s a clinical event.

Tell us which center when you book. Dialysis schedules are the trips where the approach matters most — which door, how long the chair takes to come out, where the vehicle can wait — and we’d rather confirm that with the center before your first ride than work it out on the day.

For a recurring schedule we set up a standing order rather than having you rebook every week. You tell us the days, the times and the center once. The trip stays on our schedule, the same crews see the same riders, and they learn the specifics — which door, how long the chair takes to come out, whether the rider needs the vehicle warm before they get in.

Post-dialysis rides run differently from the outbound leg. People come off treatment tired, sometimes lightheaded, occasionally unsteady in a way they weren’t three hours earlier. Our drivers are told to expect that rather than treat it as a surprise, and to give the transfer whatever time it needs.

If you’re currently riding with another operator and the schedule isn’t holding, that’s the specific problem a standing order is meant to solve. Call and describe what’s going wrong.

Booking, coverage and payment

Dispatch answers around the clock at (703) 304-7889. For a routine appointment, a day’s notice is comfortable and more is better, particularly for stretcher or bariatric trips where the vehicle pool is smaller. For facilities scheduling a discharge, we hold to a three-hour lead time.

H&M Transport is not a Medicaid provider in Maryland, so we cannot take Medicaid-covered rides in Montgomery or Prince George’s counties. In Montgomery County, Medicaid transportation is arranged through the county Department of Transportation’s Medical Assistance Transportation Program; start there or with the number on the member’s ID card. In Washington DC, the only Medicaid plan we serve is UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of the District of Columbia, through SafeRide Health. In Montgomery, Prince George’s and DC alike, if your health plan’s ride benefit is administered by SafeRide Health, book through the plan and request H&M Transport by name.

If you’re paying privately or arranging through a facility account, call us directly and we’ll quote the trip before you commit. Pricing depends on level of service, mileage and whether the trip is one-way or round-trip — our full rate card and estimator is published. Cross-jurisdiction trips — Maryland to Virginia, or Maryland into the District — are quoted the same way; there’s no surcharge for crossing a line we’re already authorized to cross.

Questions we get from Silver Spring families

Can you take me from Silver Spring into Virginia or DC?

Yes, and this is the main reason Silver Spring families call us. We hold WMATC authority 3449, which covers the Washington Metropolitan District — the District itself plus Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland and the Northern Virginia jurisdictions. One booking, one vehicle, no handoff at the line.

Do you serve Riderwood?

Yes, regularly. Give us the residence building rather than just the campus address when you book — on a campus that size it makes a real difference to the pickup time.

How does Medicaid work in Maryland?

H&M Transport is not a Medicaid provider in Maryland. In Montgomery County, Medicaid rides are arranged through the county Department of Transportation’s Medical Assistance Transportation Program. In DC, the only Medicaid plan we serve is UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of the District of Columbia, through SafeRide Health. If your health plan’s ride benefit is administered by SafeRide Health, in Maryland or DC, you can request H&M Transport by name.

How far ahead should I book?

A day’s notice is comfortable for a routine appointment. For stretcher or bariatric trips, more if you can. For a hospital discharge, a facility can book with three hours’ notice. For a cross-river trip in the morning peak, book ahead — the drive is longer than the map suggests.

What if the appointment runs late?

Call dispatch and we adjust. For a return leg we generally hold the slot rather than send the vehicle away. A call as soon as you know helps more than a call when you’re ready to leave.

Are you accredited?

Yes — H&M Transport was the first non-emergency medical transportation provider in Virginia to earn NEMTAC accreditation. It covers driver training, vehicle standards, securement procedure and incident handling, and it applies to every trip we run regardless of which side of the river it starts on.

What we can’t take

H&M Transport runs non-emergency medical transportation. We carry people to scheduled medical care and back home again, and the ride itself is transport rather than treatment.

That means there are trips we can’t take. We are not an ambulance service. We don’t provide medical care or monitoring on board, we don’t transport anyone to an emergency room, and we don’t move patients from one hospital to another for a higher level of care. Those are ambulance trips, and they need a crew and a vehicle equipped for them.

If this is a medical emergency, call 911.

If you’re not sure which you need, call us and describe the situation. We would rather tell you to dial 911 than send the wrong vehicle.

Book a ride in Silver Spring

Silver Spring, Takoma Park, Wheaton, White Oak, Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Kensington — ambulatory, wheelchair, stretcher and bariatric, seven days a week, with Virginia and DC crossings covered on one booking.

Call dispatch at (703) 304-7889, any hour. If you’d rather start online, use our reservations page and we’ll call you back to confirm the details.