Hospital & facility discharge transportation.
Coordinated discharge transportation home or to a facility — built for discharge planners, case managers, social workers, and families who need it handled.
Built for the people who arrange the transport.
Discharge Planners & Case Managers
Send the floor, room, and target window. We confirm the vehicle and work the hand-off with your unit.
Families Coordinating a Discharge
Bringing a parent or relative home? We take them from the unit to inside the home, with a live tracking link along the way.
Rehab & Skilled-Nursing Transfers
Hospital to rehab or skilled nursing, or from a facility back home, door-through-door at both ends.
Clients Going Home Seated or Reclined
Wheelchair, bariatric wheelchair, or Stretcher-Alternative, with four-point securement on every trip.
Not every discharge needs an ambulance.
If the client needs medical care on the way, an ambulance is the right call — and their care team decides that. If they don’t, a wheelchair or Stretcher-Alternative van is usually the more affordable choice, and you get a clear quote before anything is booked.
- Who it’s forRainbow Road Transport: Medically stable clients who can ride seated or reclinedAmbulance: Clients who need medical care or monitoring on the way
- Who rides with the clientRainbow Road Transport: A PASS-certified Transportation Specialist, current on CPR & First AidAmbulance: EMTs or paramedics
- The vehicleRainbow Road Transport: Wheelchair, bariatric, or Stretcher-Alternative vanAmbulance: An ambulance and cot
- Original MedicareRainbow Road Transport: Not billed to Medicare — private payAmbulance: Pays only when it’s medically necessary and a doctor orders it
- If coverage is deniedRainbow Road Transport: Nothing to deny — you approve a clear quote before bookingAmbulance: The client can be billed the full charge
- CostRainbow Road Transport: Usually the more affordable choiceAmbulance: Varies by company, mileage, and coverage
When Original Medicare does cover a non-emergency ambulance, the client usually still owes 20% after the Part B deductible. Some Medicare Advantage plans include rides — check with the plan.
Ready when the paperwork clears.
We Work to Your Timing
Tell us the target window — including same-day requests — and we’ll do our best to line up with it.
Both Ends Handled
Door-through-door from the unit to the home, skilled-nursing facility, or rehab.
Coordinated with Your Unit
We confirm the floor, room, elevator access, and window with your team.
Statewide Coverage
All of Illinois — plus long-distance transfers to and from other states.
Work at a hospital, rehab, or skilled-nursing facility? See how we partner with facilities.
Schedule a Discharge Transport
2-Min QuoteThe whole discharge day, coordinated.
Here’s the coordinated hand-off, end to end, from the order to the moment the client is home.
Example only — names, rooms, and times are illustrations.
We know how discharge days actually go.
A 10 AM discharge becomes 2 PM — usually for reasons no one on the unit controls. Our team has worked the discharge side, so we plan for it.
The Order Isn’t Signed Yet
The doctor’s discharge order or final signature is still pending.
Equipment Hasn’t Arrived
The wheelchair, walker, oxygen, or hospital bed for home isn’t delivered yet.
Family Can’t Be There
Care plans and teaching often happen by phone or Zoom now. Our Transportation Specialist can sign that we’ve received the client and are taking them home.
A Lab Needs a Second Look
A concerning result puts the discharge on hold until the care team reviews it.
It’s Med Pass
The floor nurse is mid–med pass, so discharge teaching waits a little.
An Appeal Is Pending
The family has appealed, and the case manager or social worker is still waiting on the decision.
Whatever’s holding it up, call (847) 585-8888 when the window moves and we’ll re-time the pickup. We can’t speed up a lab result or an appeal — but we can move with it.
Door‑through‑door, from the unit to the door at home.
From the unit to the vehicle, and from the vehicle into the home, skilled-nursing facility, or rehab — with the room, elevator access, and discharge timing confirmed with your team before we arrive. A securement-certified Transportation Specialist and four-point securement on every discharge, whether the client goes home seated or reclined.
Steps at the front door? We plan for them.
Many clients coming home from the hospital have a few steps at the front door. Tell us how many when you book, plus any railing or side entrance, and we’ll plan the safest way in before the trip. No surprises on the day.
- 4 Steps or Fewer
We Bring Our Portable Ramp
Your Transportation Specialist sets it over the steps and guides the wheelchair across, slowly and under control.
- More Than 4 Steps
We Look for an Accessible Entrance
Your safety comes first: we’ll look for a step-free way in, like a side or back door, the garage, or a building ramp or elevator.
- No Accessible Entrance
We May Ask for a Lift Assist
We may ask the local fire department for a lift assist. They aren’t always available, so we’ll talk it through with you before the trip.
Going Up: The client faces forward, toward the door, with the Specialist behind the chair.
Going Down: The wheelchair always goes down backward, with the Specialist below, controlling the descent.
We give minimal assistance, so we can’t lift or carry a client up or down the steps.
Three steps, the same every time.
Whether you’re a planner with a floor and a window or a family bringing someone home, the process is the same.
Send Us the Discharge
Floor, room, destination, mobility, and your target window. Online or by phone.
We Confirm and Quote
We confirm the vehicle and Specialists, and send a clear quote before anything is booked.
Your Specialist Arrives
A trained, background-checked Specialist arrives for the window and works the hand-off with your unit.
The trips this service is for.
Can’t Sit up for the Ride Home?
Stretcher-Alternative transport lets the client travel lying back in a fully reclining chair, moved from the bed on a slide sheet we bring. The calm, non-emergency alternative — not an ambulance.
About Stretcher-AlternativeFlying Home After Discharge?
Flight Nurse Companion pairs a registered nurse with a medically stable client on a commercial flight — to another state or another country — with our ground transport from the bedside to the airport. It isn’t an air ambulance.
About Flight Nurse CompanionA Long Drive Home?
Long-distance transfers take the client home to another state by road, with the same door-through-door care.
About Long-Distance TransfersWhat every discharge transport includes.
We Bring the Wheelchair
A transport wheelchair comes with us, so the client doesn’t need to borrow the hospital’s or facility’s chair to get home.
Oxygen and the Front Steps
We can bring along the oxygen the hospital or facility sends home with the client, secured in every van’s oxygen bag holder, and we carry a portable ramp for homes with up to four steps.
Wheelchair, Bariatric, or Stretcher-Alternative
Tell us the client’s mobility and we send the right vehicle and Transportation Specialists — seated or reclined.
Door-Through-Door, Both Ends
From the unit to the vehicle, and from the vehicle into the home or facility — never a curbside drop-off.
Securement-Certified Specialists
Four-point QRT securement with lap and shoulder belts, and passenger-assistance training, on every transport.
We Coordinate with Your Team
Room number, elevator access, and discharge timing confirmed before we arrive — so nothing waits on us.
Across all of Illinois.
Headquartered in Schaumburg, with a six-county Chicagoland core — and discharge transportation across all of Illinois, plus long-distance transfers to and from other states. Don’t see your facility? Call (847) 585-8888 — we likely cover it.
Door-through-Door Service
Help from inside the home to inside the appointment and back — not just curb to curb.
Certified & Insured in Illinois
Certified and insured under the State of Illinois, across the whole fleet.
Eco-Friendly Hybrid Fleet
Wheelchair-accessible Toyota Sienna Hybrids with ramps, four-point tie-downs, and seatbelts.
PASS - Certified Transportation Specialists
Trained in Passenger Assistance, Safety, and Sensitivity — for every passenger.
Questions we hear most
Still unsure? Call (847) 585-8888 and we’ll walk you through it.
Often, yes — same-day discharge requests are welcome. Call (847) 585-8888 with the floor and the target window and we’ll tell you honestly what we can do and work to your unit’s timing. Transportation is scheduled 24/7.
Directly. We confirm the floor, room, elevator access, and target window with your team so the transport lines up with the discharge — and the family doesn’t have to relay it.
Yes. Rainbow Road Transport runs ambulatory, wheelchair, bariatric wheelchair, and Stretcher-Alternative transportation — Stretcher-Alternative is a fully reclining chair for clients who can’t sit upright, not an ambulance. Tell us the client’s mobility at booking and we’ll match the vehicle and the Transportation Specialists.
Usually not. Original Medicare covers a non-emergency ambulance only when it’s medically necessary — the ambulance is the only safe way to move the client — and a doctor orders it. Even then, the client typically owes 20% after the Part B deductible, and if Medicare decides the ambulance wasn’t necessary, the full bill can come to the client.
Original Medicare doesn’t cover wheelchair or Stretcher-Alternative vans. Some Medicare Advantage plans include rides, so check with the plan.
If the client doesn’t need medical care on the way, a Rainbow Road Transport van is usually the more affordable choice — and you approve a clear quote before anything is booked.
No — we bring our own transport wheelchair to every discharge, so the hospital or facility keeps theirs. If the client does need to use the hospital’s or facility’s wheelchair, we have to bring it back, so the trip is billed as a round trip.
We can also bring along the oxygen the hospital or facility sends home with the client — every van has an oxygen bag holder to secure it — and we carry a portable ramp for homes with up to four steps. Mention both at booking.
Yes, if they’re medically stable. Our Flight Nurse Companion service pairs a registered nurse with the client on a commercial flight — to another state or another country — and our ground transport handles the trip from the bedside to the airport.
It isn’t an air ambulance: clients who need ICU-level care in the air need one, which we don’t offer, and we’ll tell you if that’s the right answer.
Rainbow Road Transport is private-pay — we don’t bill insurance directly.
If you’re using coverage, call your plan first; you can also see the health plans we work with on our partners page.
Facilities that transport with us regularly should call (847) 585-8888 so we can set up the account before the first discharge.
Schedule a discharge transport.
Give us the floor and the target window — or call dispatch directly. Transportation is scheduled 24/7.