Rides to Cardiac Rehab Appointments in Massachusetts

Cardiac rehab is not one appointment. It is two or three visits a week for roughly two to four months, so the problem you are solving is thirty something trips, not one. Most people drive themselves once their doctor clears them. If you cannot, a wheelchair accessible round trip with us is $230 within five miles, then $2 a mile beyond that.

How many cardiac rehab appointments will I have?

Medicare covers up to 36 sessions. Programs commonly run two or three one hour sessions a week, which spreads across roughly eight to eighteen weeks depending on the program. Medicare also allows coverage to be extended, up to a total of 72 sessions over 36 weeks, when there is reason for it. Referrals usually follow a heart attack, bypass surgery, stable angina, a valve repair or replacement, angioplasty or stenting, or a heart or heart and lung transplant. If your referral is for heart failure, ask the program to confirm coverage with your plan before the first visit, because the published rules are not consistent on that one.

Count the trips before you decide how to cover them. Three sessions a week for ten weeks is thirty round trips. That is the number that breaks a plan built on favors from family and neighbors.

Can I drive myself to cardiac rehab?

Ask your cardiologist or your surgeon, because it is their call and no web page replaces it. Two things usually decide it. If you had open heart surgery, your surgeon sets a period when you should not drive, and you follow that date rather than a general rule you read somewhere. If you were already not driving before the cardiac event, rehab does not change that.

If you are cleared and you feel steady, drive yourself. We would rather say that than sell you thirty rides you do not need.

Our van loads a passenger who stays in their own wheelchair for the trip.

What should I try before paying for rides?

• Your town's Council on Aging. Most Massachusetts towns run a van or a volunteer driver program for medical trips, usually free or a few dollars. Book early, because standing weekly trips fill the calendar fast.
• If you have MassHealth, ask the rehab program's staff about a PT 1. That is the form MassHealth uses to arrange rides to covered appointments.
• If you are on a Medicare Advantage plan, check your benefits booklet. Some plans include a set number of one way trips a year.
• Ask the hospital for a patient navigator or a social worker. Cardiac rehab programs care about people finishing the full course, and they often know van routes and funding you will not find on your own.

Use us for the trips those options cannot cover. That is usually a wheelchair, a weekday the van does not run, a start time earlier than the van's first run, or a town just outside the free service area.

What does a ride to cardiac rehab cost?

Wheelchair accessible transportation is $115 each way and $230 round trip within five miles, then $2 a mile beyond that. There is no cancellation fee. When you book, give us the whole course rather than one week at a time, so the same slot is held for you each week.

Can someone come in with me, or is it only the ride?

Either one. Plenty of people want the door to door ride and nothing else. If you want someone to walk you in, wait and bring you back out, that is home health aide care at $45 an hour, one to eight hours a day, with no minimum contract, no assessment fee and no four hour minimum per visit. For two rehab days a week, three hours at a time, that runs about $1,170 a month.

Be clear on what an aide is. Our aides are trained, background checked and insured, and they are not nurses. They do not administer medication, change dressings or make clinical judgments. Inside a rehab session the clinical staff monitor you. The aide gets you there, helps you move safely, and calls for help if something goes wrong.

What if the entrance has steps?

Stair assistance is $200 a visit, with two trained staff and an electric stair chair. Most hospital outpatient entrances are level, so you will rarely need it at the rehab site. The steps that actually stop people are at home, on the way out the front door. Ask us for the chair's rated weight capacity on the phone before you book, so nothing is a surprise at the curb.

Can I have the same driver every week?

Ask when you book the course. We schedule standing trips as a block, which makes continuity easier to hold. We will not promise one named driver for ten straight weeks, because people take vacation and get sick, and an agency that promises that is setting you up for a cancelled ride in week six.

Related reading

• Rides to Daily Radiation Treatment in Massachusetts, the same standing schedule problem over more weeks.
• How Much Does Wheelchair Transportation Cost in Massachusetts?
• Free Rides to Medical Appointments in Massachusetts for Seniors, worth reading first.

Booking a standing schedule

We run roughly 30,000 trips a year across eastern and central Massachusetts, with offices in Woburn, Springfield and Brockton. Call 781 957 8076 or email info@careremedyinc.com with your rehab start date and your session days.

This page is general information. Whether you may drive, and when, is a decision for your own cardiologist or surgeon, and coverage questions belong with your own plan.