Transportation for Cataract and Eye Surgery

Why this is a series of rides, not one

A typical cataract pathway looks like this: surgery on the first eye, a check the following morning, a further review at a week or so. Then, usually a few weeks later, the same sequence for the second eye. That is six or more separate trips, spread over a month or two, in a specific and known order.

The days between the two surgeries are the difficult ones. One eye has a new lens and the other still has the cataract, and the glasses that used to work now correct the wrong eye. A lot of people who drove themselves to the first appointment cannot safely drive to any of the rest.

Mild sedation is usual for the procedure itself, which rules out driving that day regardless.

How the ride works

Book the sequence, not the trip. Once you have the surgery date and the follow-up dates from the practice, give them to us together and we’ll put the whole run on our board as a standing arrangement. You won’t have to rebook each time, and it usually means the same crews.

Expect a wait-or-return decision on surgery day. Cataract surgery itself is quick but the pre-op and recovery around it are not. We’ll advise on whether waiting or a return leg is the better call once you tell us the schedule.

Tell us about the shield. Patients often leave with a plastic eye shield and instructions not to bend, not to lift and not to rub. Our drivers know to do the carrying.

Depth perception is the hidden risk. With one eye patched, curbs and steps are genuinely harder to judge. Our drivers assist at both ends by default rather than on request.

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. Cataract transport is usually private pay. Some Medicare Advantage plans include a limited transportation benefit — check your plan documents, because the allowance is typically a fixed number of trips a year.

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

If you have the full schedule from the practice, give it to us in one call and we’ll set the whole thing up.

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.