Transportation for Infusion Therapy

Who rides with us

Patients on biologics — typically every four to eight weeks, indefinitely. Often people whose underlying condition is exactly why driving is difficult: rheumatoid arthritis in the hands, a flare that makes a car door hard to open.

Patients on iron infusions — usually a short series, but the anemia that prompted them means real fatigue and sometimes dizziness on standing.

Patients on immunoglobulin — long infusions, often several hours, with headache and fatigue common afterwards.

Patients on outpatient IV antibiotics — daily or several times weekly, frequently after a hospital discharge, often still recovering from whatever put them in the hospital.

The common thread is that these are people with an ongoing condition rather than a one-off event, which is why the arrangement that works is a standing one.

How the ride works

Put the infusion schedule on a standing order. Give us the center, the days and the chair times once, and every ride repeats until the course ends. The same crews tend to carry the same riders, so the driver knows the door, the usual chair time and which arm has the line.

Infusion times vary enormously. Some are thirty minutes; immunoglobulin can be four hours or more. Tell us which and we’ll advise whether waiting or a return leg is the better call.

Reactions happen on the way home, not at the center. Many infusion reactions are caught in the chair, but headache, chills and fatigue frequently start afterwards. Our drivers are told to expect a rider who is less well leaving than arriving.

Tell us if there’s a port or a PICC line. Not because it changes the vehicle, but because it changes how the crew assists — you don’t take someone’s arm on the side with the line in it.

What it costs

Infusion round trips by ambulatory or wheelchair transportation are $55 per leg with five miles included each way, then $3 a mile. For a schedule that runs for months, budget with that per-leg rate. Stretcher round trips are $230 per leg.

The rate card and trip estimator are published, so the cost of a long course is clear before you call. For 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. 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.

Infusion trips that need an ambulance

We drive infusion patients to the chair and home again; the van is transport, not treatment.

A reaction that needs an emergency room, monitoring on board or a hospital transfer for a higher level of care is an ambulance trip, not one for our vans. If a rider becomes unwell, the driver stops safely and calls 911.

If this is a medical emergency, call 911.

Not sure which trip this is? Call and describe the patient, and we’ll say when it’s an ambulance trip.

Common questions

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

Book the return as a will-call. Call dispatch as the infusion nears its end and a driver starts toward the center; call once you’re unhooked and a driver arrives within 45 minutes. The earlier the call, the shorter the wait. For a short infusion, a driver can wait on site 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 infusion cost the member nothing.

Can I use my HSA or FSA, or deduct medical transportation on my taxes?

Usually, yes. Under IRS rules, transportation that is mainly for and essential to medical care counts as a medical expense, and that is the same test HSA and FSA plans use. So a ride to a medical appointment can generally be paid from an HSA or FSA or counted toward an itemized medical deduction. We’ll send an itemized receipt for any trip on request. Your plan administrator makes the final call on reimbursement, and a tax advisor can confirm the deduction for your situation.

Book the ride

If your infusion schedule is fixed, one call sets it up for the duration.

Reach dispatch at (703) 304-7889 any hour, or start on our reservations page and we’ll call back. A same-day ride needs three hours’ notice, a booking the day before is guaranteed, and we confirm by call or text within two hours. Changes are free more than two hours before pickup; a later change or a no-show is $50.

We carry infusion patients anywhere in Northern Virginia, the District, and Montgomery or Prince George’s County; DC and Maryland legs run under WMATC authority 3449 and Virginia legs under Virginia DMV Certificate #524.