Transportation to Emory Dialysis Centers

Stretcher dialysis transport is the differentiator

Start with the part that matters most, because it is the reason most people find this page. If a dialysis patient cannot sit upright, the number of transport companies willing to take them drops close to zero. Families call four providers, hear "wheelchair only" four times, and start looking at options nobody wants to consider.

We take those trips. Stretcher dialysis transport runs with two trained attendants, the patient stays lying flat from their bed through the ride to the clinic, and the crew brings them all the way in. Three times a week, on a standing schedule, the same as any other dialysis rider.

Heart2Heart Medical Transport is an independent transportation provider and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or contracted with Emory Healthcare.

Emory dialysis locations in our service area

Emory operates dialysis services at locations across the Atlanta and Decatur area, and DeKalb County is our core coverage zone — the same area that includes Emory Decatur Hospital and Emory Hillandale Hospital. That geography is why our dialysis reliability is strongest here.

Give us the clinic and the chair time. We will confirm whether it fits our standing board before you commit, and we will tell you honestly if it does not.

How a standing dialysis schedule works

You give us the treatment days and chair times once. We build the pickup time backward from the chair time — accounting for the transfer, the route, and the clinic's check-in — and then that ride repeats every week without another phone call.

The return leg is scheduled for after treatment ends, and we plan for the reality that patients come out of dialysis weak, cold, and sometimes unsteady. Door-through-door is standard both directions: from the bed or chair at home to the clinic door, and back to the bed or chair at home. One companion rides free if someone wants to come along.

• Set the schedule once; it repeats weekly without re-booking
• Pickup times calculated backward from chair time
• Return pickups planned around post-treatment fatigue
• Wheelchair, stretcher, or BLS depending on the patient
• Same crew rhythm so the patient is not re-explaining their needs

Coverage: what we can and cannot bill

Heart2Heart bills insurance for medically necessary transports such as dialysis, wound care and emergency-department related trips. Coverage depends on the patient's plan and is never guaranteed, and we do not bill Medicaid. Verify your benefits with the number on the back of your card.

Heart2Heart bills insurance for medically necessary transports such as dialysis, wound care and emergency-department related trips. Coverage depends on the patient's plan and is never guaranteed, and we do not bill Medicaid. If it is not, the trip is private pay and we will tell you that before dispatch. Heart2Heart does not accept Medicaid or managed-Medicaid products in any form. Every non-dialysis trip — appointments, discharges, family events — is private pay.

For hospital and clinic social workers

Discharge planners and dialysis social workers are often trying to place a patient whose transportation just collapsed, and they need a fast answer. Our referral path collects scheduling details only — no patient health information — and returns a yes or no on capacity quickly.

If the patient is being discharged from a hospital and starting or resuming dialysis, we can handle both the discharge trip and the standing schedule that follows. Hospital-side logistics are covered on our Emory facilities transportation page.

Missed treatments are the real cost

Every missed session compounds: fluid overload, hospital admissions, longer recovery, and a family that spends the next week in crisis mode. Transportation is one of the most common causes of a missed treatment, and it is the most fixable one.

That is why our dialysis schedules are built as commitments rather than best-efforts. If a vehicle has a problem, we reassign it — we do not call the patient and tell them to figure it out. Private-pay trips are paid by card; call dispatch at (678) 696-1583 with payment questions.