Rides to Pre Op Testing Appointments in Massachusetts

Pre op testing does not involve sedation, so in most cases you can drive yourself and you do not need a paid escort. You need a ride if you cannot drive at all, if you use a wheelchair and cannot transfer into a car, or if you cannot manage a visit that moves you between the lab, imaging and the anesthesia interview. Our wheelchair accessible van is $115 each way and $230 round trip within five miles, then $2 a mile beyond that.

Do I need someone to drive me to my pre op appointment?

Usually no. The rule that bars you from driving applies to the day of surgery, when you are sedated. A pre op or pre admission testing visit is bloodwork, an EKG, sometimes imaging, and a conversation with anesthesia. None of that sedates you, so the surgical office does not need to release you to a named adult the way it will on surgery day.

Call the surgical office before you arrange anything. Some hospitals handle part or all of the anesthesia interview by phone, which means there may be no trip to arrange at all. Ask whether your visit is in person, how long it is scheduled for, and whether every test is at the same address.

Can I get a free ride to pre op testing instead of paying for one?

If you have MassHealth Standard, CommonHealth or CarePlus and you cannot access public transportation or a private ride, the MassHealth transportation program covers rides to appointments for covered services. That includes a pre op visit. There is no charge to you, so try this route before you pay anyone.

The catch is who files it and how early. The PT-1 request has to be submitted by a MassHealth medical provider through the Customer Web Portal, not by you, so you have to ask your doctor's office to do it. MassHealth says processing generally takes up to three business days. Once it is approved, you book each ride with the regional transit broker assigned to your city or town, and the guidance is to call at least three business days before the appointment. The broker calls the day or night before to confirm, and you should be ready fifteen minutes before pickup.

• MassHealth Customer Service, 800 841 2900, can tell you which broker covers your town and whether you qualify.
• Tell your provider if you use a wheelchair, walker or scooter so it goes on the request.
• You may bring an escort, such as a family member, to help you in and out of the vehicle, but the escort has to be listed on the request and approved, and you provide the escort yourself.
• If you are in a One Care plan, a Senior Care Options plan or PACE, call your plan instead.

Your town Council on Aging is the other free or low cost option, and many run medical appointment rides for residents over sixty. Those vans usually book a week or more out and often do not run outside the town or late in the day, so they fit a scheduled pre op visit better than they fit surgery day. More on both routes here: free rides to medical appointments for Massachusetts seniors.

When is a paid ride actually the right call?

When the free routes cannot do what the appointment needs. That is usually one of four situations: the appointment was scheduled on short notice and there is no time for a PT-1, you use a wheelchair and need a van with a proper tie down rather than a sedan, the building has steps your family cannot manage, or you need someone with you for the whole visit rather than just a drop off.

Our van loads a wheelchair by ramp and secures it with a four point tie down, so you stay in your own chair for the whole trip.

How long will I be there, and does the driver wait?

Ask the surgical office for the scheduled length, because pre op visits vary a great deal. A single blood draw can take twenty minutes. A visit that runs you through the lab, an EKG, imaging and an anesthesia interview can take several hours, and the departments may not be on the same floor or even in the same building.

That answer changes what you should book. A twenty minute blood draw is a round trip with a wait. A three hour circuit through four departments is better covered by a ride plus an aide who stays with you, because nobody wants to be paged back to a curb four times. Tell us the scheduled length when you call and we will tell you which one costs less.

What if the building has steps and no ramp?

Stair assistance is $200 a visit and brings two trained staff and an electric stair chair. That is the service for a three family home with a flight of stairs and no ramp, or a medical building with a front stoop and a side entrance nobody told you about. Call us for the stair chair's rated weight capacity before you book, because it matters and we will give it to you on the phone.

Can someone come inside and stay with me during the appointment?

Yes. Home health aide care is $45 an hour, one to eight hours a day, with no minimum contract and no assessment fee. An aide can push the chair between departments, carry the folder, write down what the anesthesia nurse says about which medications to stop and when, and get you back home afterward.

Our aides are trained, background checked and insured, and they are not nurses. An aide does not administer medication, including insulin, does not change dressings and does not make clinical judgments. At a pre op visit that distinction rarely matters, because the clinical work is being done by the hospital staff. What the aide is there for is the walking, the waiting, the chair and the notes. Skilled nursing is a separate service and is priced separately.

Do I have to fast before pre op bloodwork?

Sometimes, and only the ordering office can tell you. Some pre op blood tests require fasting and some do not, and the instruction often arrives in a packet or a portal message rather than a phone call. Ask directly when you confirm the appointment, and ask the same question about which of your regular medications to take that morning.

If you are fasting, say so when you book the ride. A fasting diabetic sitting in a waiting room for three hours is a different trip than a routine one, and the schedule should reflect that.

What should I bring to a pre op appointment?

• A photo ID and your insurance cards.
• A current list of every medication, vitamin and supplement, with doses. Bring the bottles if the list is not written down.
• The name and phone number of the person who will drive you on surgery day, because the office will ask.
• Any paperwork the surgical office mailed or posted to the portal.
• The name of your health care proxy if you have one.

That third item is the one people get caught by. The pre op visit is often where the office first tells you that you cannot leave alone after surgery, and that you need a named adult rather than a taxi. If you do not have one, read whether you can hire someone to take you home after surgery before you leave the building, because arranging it early is much easier than arranging it the night before.

Is this different from the ride on surgery day?

Completely. Pre op testing is a trip you can usually make on your own. Surgery day is a trip where the facility will not discharge you to a rideshare and will not let you leave by yourself, and where someone has to be named in advance. Two separate appointments, two different sets of rules, and it is worth sorting out both while you are on the phone with the office. Our pricing and coverage for both kinds of trip is set out in what wheelchair transportation costs in Massachusetts.

How do I book?

Call 781 957 8076 or email info@careremedyinc.com with the appointment date, the address, the scheduled length and whether you use a wheelchair or need help with stairs. We serve eastern and central Massachusetts from offices in Woburn, Springfield and Brockton. If a free ride will cover your trip, we will tell you that instead of booking you.

Confirm fasting, sedation and medication instructions with your own surgical office or doctor. Transportation program rules and eligibility change, so verify your own coverage with MassHealth at 800 841 2900. This page is general information, not medical advice.