Transportation for Cardiac Rehabilitation

The driving restriction is the whole problem

After a heart attack, most patients are told not to drive for a period — often two to four weeks, longer after bypass surgery, and longer again if an ICD has been implanted. Virginia and Maryland both have restrictions tied to certain cardiac events and devices.

Cardiac rehabilitation typically starts inside that window. So the patient is being asked to attend three times a week, beginning at exactly the point they’ve been told not to drive, usually while a spouse is trying to return to work after weeks at the hospital.

Missing the start of the program matters. Attendance in the first two weeks is the strongest predictor of finishing it, and finishing it is associated with substantially better outcomes. This is one of the clearest cases in this business where the ride is not a convenience.

How the ride works

Set up a standing order rather than rebooking every week. You tell us the days, the times and the destination once. The trip stays on our schedule, and the same crews tend to see the same riders — which matters more than it sounds like it should, because a driver who has done this run before knows which door, how long the appointment really takes, and whether this rider needs the vehicle warm before they get in.

Sessions are usually an hour and the schedule is fixed. Same days, same time, twelve weeks. For an hour-long session, waiting is often the right call — $75 an hour for wheelchair or ambulatory — but we’ll advise based on your slot.

Tell us if there’s a sternotomy. After bypass surgery patients are under lifting and pushing restrictions and cannot use their arms to push up out of a seat. That changes how the crew assists at the door, and it is not obvious to a driver who hasn’t been told.

Tell us about an ICD or pacemaker. It doesn’t change the vehicle. It changes how the seatbelt sits, and a belt across a recent implant site is genuinely painful.

Book the whole twelve weeks. One call.

What it costs

Ambulatory and wheelchair transportation round trips are $55 per leg with five miles included on each leg, plus $3 a mile beyond that. On a recurring schedule that’s the figure to plan around. Stretcher service is $230 per leg.

Our full rate card and trip estimator is published — you can work out the price before you call. Medicaid members should book through their plan’s transportation broker rather than through us; the number is on the back of the member’s ID card. Medicare generally does not cover non-emergency medical transportation.

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.

Common questions

What if the appointment runs long or I don’t know my return time?

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.

How do I ask for H&M Transport through Virginia Medicaid?

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.

Can you get a wheelchair rider up or down the stairs at home?

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.

Book the ride

If the program has given you a schedule, read it to us once and we’ll hold the whole course.

Call dispatch at (703) 304-7889, any hour, or start on our reservations page and we’ll call you back.

We serve Northern Virginia, Washington DC and the Maryland suburbs, and we hold WMATC authority 3449 for crossings into the District and Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.