Rides to an MRI Appointment in Massachusetts

Most MRIs need no sedation, so you can drive yourself home and you do not need an escort. The exception catches a lot of people: a closed scanner plus an anxiety pill or IV sedation means you cannot drive, and the department will not release you alone. An escort from us is $45 an hour. A wheelchair accessible ride is $115 each way.

An escort walks in with you, waits through the scan and takes you home. For an MRI, the waiting is the long part.

Do I need someone to drive me home after an MRI?

Only if you are given medication. A plain MRI does nothing to your reflexes or your judgment. You lie still inside a loud tube, you get up, you get dressed, you leave. If your instruction sheet says nothing about sedation and nothing about fasting, you are driving yourself home and you do not need to hire anyone.

Read the sheet, though. The word to look for is any medication you are told to take beforehand, or any instruction to stop eating.

What if I take an anxiety pill for the closed scanner?

Then you need a driver, and the department expects you to have arranged one before you arrive. Many imaging departments ask the referring doctor to prescribe a short acting anxiety medication such as lorazepam, taken one to two hours before the appointment, sometimes with a second tablet to bring along in case the first one is not enough. The University of Wisconsin radiology department publishes its protocol and states plainly that patients should not drive after taking it and should arrange to have a driver take them home. You can read it here.

Here is the part that trips people up. You swallow the pill at home. Nobody at the hospital watches you take it, so nobody stops you at the door on the way out. A pill taken at nine in the morning is still working at noon. People drive themselves anyway because the scan felt like nothing. That is the trip worth paying for.

What about IV sedation or anesthesia for an MRI?

Stricter rules, and usually fasting. One hospital network's MRI sedation instructions tell adult patients to have nothing to eat or drink for at least eight hours before the appointment time and to make arrangements to have someone drive them home because they will be receiving medication. That is the published instruction sheet.

Departments differ on whether a taxi or a rideshare counts as a ride home. Plenty will not discharge a sedated patient to a driver who takes no responsibility for them. Ask the scheduler the question directly: can I leave in a rideshare by myself, or do you need a named adult. If the answer is a named adult, that is the job we do. We cover the same ground for other procedures in Ambulatory Transportation from a Medical Procedure and in No Ride Home? Do Not Cancel Your Procedure in Massachusetts.

Does the contrast dye change anything?

Not for driving. Contrast for an MRI is an injection, not a sedative, and it does not make you drowsy. You may be asked to wait a short while before you leave so staff can see how you do, and you may be told to drink extra water. None of that requires a driver. If sedation and contrast are both on the order, it is the sedation that decides.

Can I go into the scanner in my own wheelchair?

No, and this surprises families more than anything else about an MRI. A standard wheelchair has steel in the frame, the bearings and often the footplates, and nothing magnetic goes into the scanner room. Imaging departments keep an MRI safe chair at the door for exactly this reason. Their staff move you out of your own chair and into theirs, then onto the scanner table.

So our part of the trip ends at that door. Our aides are trained, background checked and insured, and they are not nurses. They do not administer medication, they do not change dressings and they do not make clinical judgments. Inside the imaging suite, hospital staff handle the transfer onto the table. We get you there, we get you back out, and we get you into your own home at the other end.

Your own chair rides in the van and waits with the driver. The scanner room gets a chair of its own.

How long will my escort be waiting?

Longer than you would guess, which matters when you are paying by the hour. The scan itself commonly runs thirty to sixty minutes, and longer when contrast is used or more than one body part is being imaged. On top of that sits the metal screening form, changing into a gown, locking up your belongings and the wait before you are called.

Ask the department for the expected total time when you book, not the scan time. Then book the escort against that number.

Can an aide help with the metal screening form?

Up to a point. The screening form asks about pacemakers, defibrillators, stents, surgical clips, joint replacements, hearing implants, and metal fragments from old injuries or old jobs. An aide can read the questions aloud, hand over your implant card and your medication list, and call your family or your doctor's office if something needs checking before you go in.

An aide cannot answer those questions on your behalf. Bring the card for any implanted device. If you do not have it, call the office that placed the device before the appointment rather than on the day.

What does a ride to an MRI cost?

• Home health aide care, which covers an escort who walks in with you, waits and takes you home: $45 an hour, one to eight hours a day. No minimum contract, no assessment fee, and no four hour minimum per visit.
• Wheelchair accessible transportation: $115 each way, $230 round trip within five miles, then $2 a mile beyond that.
• Stair assistance, if you cannot manage the steps at your own door afterward: $200 a visit, with two trained staff and an electric stair chair. Call us for the chair's rated weight capacity.

The full wheelchair pricing is broken out in How Much Does Wheelchair Transportation Cost in Massachusetts?

Should I try a cheaper option first?

Yes, and several are free. Your town's Council on Aging often runs rides to medical appointments for residents over sixty. The hospital's own social worker or patient navigator can sometimes arrange transportation for a patient who would otherwise cancel. MassHealth members may qualify for a PT-1 ride. Some Medicare Advantage plans include a set number of trips a year, and most members never use them.

Those options generally drop you off and pick you up. They do not sit in the waiting room, sign you out or walk you into your kitchen. If you are walking, unsedated and only need the lift, use them and keep your money.

Who do I call?

Care Remedy serves eastern and central Massachusetts from offices in Woburn, Springfield and Brockton. Call 781 957 8076 or email info@careremedyinc.com with your appointment time and the name of the imaging center, and we will tell you what the trip costs before you book it.

Care Remedy is not affiliated with any hospital or imaging center named or linked on this page. Sedation rules, fasting instructions and escort requirements are set by your own imaging department and your own doctor. Confirm yours with them before the appointment.