Transportation Home After a Colonoscopy or Endoscopy

Why a rideshare isn’t allowed

It isn’t the center being difficult. Sedation for a colonoscopy — usually propofol or a midazolam and fentanyl combination — leaves people impaired for hours in ways they consistently underestimate. Judgment and memory are affected before coordination is, which is exactly why patients feel fine and are not.

The requirement is for a responsible adult who takes custody of you at discharge. A rideshare driver is a stranger with no obligation to you, who will not come inside, will not sign anything, and will not notice if you get out at the wrong address. Most centers are explicit that this does not satisfy the requirement, and some will cancel the procedure on the day if you arrive without a plan.

That’s the gap we fill. Our drivers walk in, identify themselves to the discharge nurse, and assist you from the recovery area to the vehicle and from the vehicle to your door.

How the ride works

Book the round trip. Most people book both legs on one reservation — out in the morning, back when the center calls. That’s usually cheaper than two separate one-ways and it means the return is already on our board.

The return is a call-back, not a fixed time. Nobody knows exactly when you’ll be discharged. You or the center calls dispatch when recovery is nearly done and we come. Tell us at booking roughly when the procedure is scheduled and we’ll plan the window.

Tell us if you’d rather wait. For a procedure this short, having the vehicle wait is often the better answer — prescheduled wait time is $75 an hour for a wheelchair or ambulatory vehicle, and it removes the uncertainty entirely.

Tell us about stairs at home. Coming out of sedation and going up an unfamiliar flight is the part of this trip most likely to go wrong. If there are steps, say so when you book.

What it costs

A one-way ride is $90 plus $3 a mile for ambulatory or wheelchair transportation. A round trip — out and back on the same booking — is $55 per leg with five miles included on each, which works out cheaper than two one-ways under about eight miles.

Our full rate card and trip estimator is published — you can work out the price before you call. Colonoscopy transport is nearly always private pay. Medicaid members with a covered procedure should book through their plan’s transportation broker; the number is on the back of the member’s ID card.

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

Can I take an Uber or taxi home after a colonoscopy or surgery with sedation?

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.

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.

Book the ride

Book at least a day ahead if you can — endoscopy schedules cluster in the mornings and so do we.

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.