Transportation for Imaging and Biopsies Under Sedation

Who this is for

Patients sedated for the imaging itself. Claustrophobia in an MRI tube is common enough that oral or IV sedation is routine. Oral sedatives in particular catch people out because they don’t feel like anesthetic — but they impair driving for hours.

Patients having an image-guided procedure. A CT-guided or ultrasound-guided biopsy is a procedure, with local anesthetic and often sedation, and a recovery period afterwards.

Patients who can’t sit up for the scan or the journey. Some imaging appointments need a stretcher both ways, particularly for patients coming from a skilled nursing facility.

Patients whose mobility is the reason for the scan. Someone being imaged after a fall or for a suspected fracture frequently cannot use a car at all.

How the ride works

Tell us the level of service honestly. If the patient is coming from a bed and going back to one, that’s a stretcher trip, and booking it as a wheelchair trip means the vehicle can’t take them.

These are usually short. An MRI is often under an hour. Waiting — $75 an hour for a wheelchair or ambulatory vehicle — is frequently cheaper and quicker than scheduling a return leg.

Facility bookings get three hours. If you’re a SNF or hospital scheduling an outpatient scan, three hours’ notice is all we need, including for stretcher.

Contrast and fasting matter. A patient who has fasted since midnight and then had contrast is not at their best. Tell us and the crew will allow for it.

What it costs

One way to or from a scan is $90 plus $3 a mile by ambulatory or wheelchair transportation. Booked as a round trip, it is $55 per leg with five miles included each way, which beats two one-ways under about eight miles.

Price the trip yourself on our published rate card and trip estimator. For Virginia Medicaid and a covered scan: 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. In DC we serve UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of the District of Columbia members through SafeRide Health, and we are not a Maryland Medicaid provider. Original Medicare doesn’t pay for these vans, but a Medicare Advantage plan whose ride benefit runs through MTM Health or SafeRide Health can send the trip to us. Facility accounts book directly with us.

Scans and transfers that need an ambulance

We drive patients to scheduled imaging and home again; the ride is transport, never treatment.

An emergency room trip, on-board monitoring or a move to another hospital for a higher level of care belongs to an ambulance crew, not our van. If a rider becomes unwell, the driver stops safely and calls 911.

If this is a medical emergency, call 911.

Unsure which you need? Describe the patient to dispatch, and if it’s an ambulance trip, we’ll say so.

Common questions

Can I take an Uber or taxi home after a sedated scan or biopsy?

Many imaging and surgery centers won’t release a sedated patient to a rideshare or taxi driver. Our driver comes inside, meets you at discharge and takes you door-through-door home, and many local centers accept us as your ride. Check with the center when you book the scan, and give us the appointment time so we can plan the pickup. A family member is welcome to ride along.

What if the scan runs late or I don’t know when I’ll be done?

Set the return as a will-call. Call dispatch as the scan wraps up and a driver heads over; call once you’re out and a driver arrives within 45 minutes. The earlier you call, the shorter the wait. A driver can wait on site instead at $75 an hour for wheelchair trips or $100 an hour for stretcher.

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 a scan cost the member nothing.

Book the ride

Same-day ambulatory, wheelchair and stretcher trips need three hours’ notice, and a booking the day before is guaranteed.

Call dispatch at (703) 304-7889 at any hour, or start on our reservations page and we’ll call back; we confirm by call or text within two hours. Changes cost nothing more than two hours before pickup, and a later change or a no-show is $50.

Imaging rides cover Northern Virginia, Washington DC and Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, with WMATC authority 3449 for the District and Maryland and Virginia DMV Certificate #524 in Virginia.