Transportation for Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation

The circular problem

There is a loop in outpatient rehabilitation that everyone working in it recognizes. The patient needs therapy because they can’t move well. They can’t get to therapy because they can’t move well. So they miss sessions, so they recover more slowly, so the mobility problem lasts longer.

It is most acute in the first few weeks after a joint replacement or a stroke, which is also the window in which therapy does the most good.

The practical obstacles are specific. Someone with a new hip cannot bend past ninety degrees, which rules out most car seats. Someone using a walker cannot manage a walker and a car door at the same time. Someone recovering from a stroke may have one side that doesn’t cooperate at a curb.

None of those are problems in a van with a ramp or a hydraulic lift with a driver trained to assist.

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.

Bring the equipment. Walkers, crutches, canes and wheelchairs travel with the rider at no extra charge. Tell us what’s coming so the crew allows for it.

Tell us about weight-bearing restrictions. Non-weight-bearing on one leg changes the transfer completely, and it is the single most useful thing to say at booking.

Sessions are usually 45 to 60 minutes, which puts them right at the point where waiting and returning cost about the same. We’ll advise.

Levels of service change during a course of PT, and usually in the good direction. A rider who starts in a wheelchair may be ambulatory by week eight. Tell us when it changes.

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

Give us the schedule the clinic gave you and we’ll hold it.

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.