Hospital discharge logistics
The ride home.
Booked from the note.
Paste the discharge note. Hestia books a licensed wheelchair, stretcher, or sedan ride home in under a minute, and the family pays online.
The demo uses sample patients, addresses, and figures.
4 West
Families and providers
Discharge note
Ride request
- Patient
- Margaret Ellis, 78
- Pickup
- 4 West, room 412
- Destination
- 1418 Harlem Blvd, Rockford IL 61103
- Mobility
- Wheelchair
- Ready
- 2:30 PM today
- Equipment
- Portable oxygen
- Family
- Karen (daughter) · (815) 555-0142
- Who books
Families, patients, and discharge teams
Book the ride home online, or a case manager books it straight from the discharge note.
- Who pays
The family or the patient, online
One flat $149, shown upfront and paid by card before pickup. No insurance forms or approvals.
- Who drives
Licensed local providers
Wheelchair, stretcher, and sedan companies under contract. No gig drivers.
Traction
4 rides home in two months.
Booked and paid for online by families, fulfilled by our licensed providers. Now in pilot talks with two Rockford health systems.
- licensed providers under contract
- 2
- from discharge note to booked ride
- <1min
The usual way
The patient is ready.
The ride isn’t.
Without Hestia, the ride home runs through phone calls to van companies and insurance brokers that need forms and advance notice. A missing ride keeps patients from care: in 2017, 5.8 million Americans delayed medical care because they had no way to get there.1
Van companies: holds, voicemails, call-backs.
Meanwhile the hospital bed stays full.
And the family is left waiting.
| Step | The usual way | With Hestia |
|---|---|---|
| Booking | Phone calls to van companies, or a broker that needs forms and advance notice | Booked online or from the discharge note, in under a minute |
| Price | Quoted later, and it varies | One flat $149, shown upfront |
| Payment | Insurance paperwork, or an invoice afterward | Paid online by card, before pickup |
| Updates | The family calls the unit for news | Automatic texts, from booked to home |
| Driver | Whoever has a van free | A licensed wheelchair, stretcher, or sedan provider |
How it works
From the note
to the front door.
- 1
Paste the note
Straight from the chart, as written.
- 2
Hestia reads it
Patient, pickup, address, mobility, family.
- 3
$149, paid online
One flat price, paid by the family by card.
- 4
A provider accepts
Licensed local vans, checked in order.
- 5
The family hears
Pickup time and a payment link, by text.
- 6
Home
Tracked to the door. The bed opens up.
Paste the noteStraight from the chart, as written.
In their words
Written the way nurses write.
Abbreviations and all. Every request comes back a booked ride.
- JP
Jordan P.Case manager, 4 West
Pt Ellis 78F rm 412, ready ~2:30. W/c, can’t transfer, portable O2. Dtr Karen meets at home, 1418 Harlem Blvd.
Wheelchair van booked for 2:30 PM. Karen has the pickup time.
- KE
Karen E.Daughter, by text
Mom is being discharged this afternoon and needs a wheelchair van home. Can you get her by 3?
Booked for 2:45 PM. $149 shown first, paid online by card.
- MR
Maria R.Discharge planner, 3 North
Lindqvist 84M rm 403, bed bound, needs stretcher + 2 crew. Home w hospice, 5120 Guilford Rd, wife Ingrid.
Stretcher van and crew booked for 3:45 PM. Hospice nurse noted.
Get the highlights.
One flat price. Paid online by the family, before pickup.
The family hears first. Without anyone picking up a phone.
Rides first. Then everything after discharge.
Integrations
Plugs into the discharge
you already run.
Hospital
EHR discharge list
HL7 ADT or FHIR
Single sign-on
SAML or OpenID Connect
Any discharge note
Paste from any chart
Hestia
Reads · prices · books · tracks
Everyone after
Licensed providers
Driver app, text fallback
Families
Texts from booked to home
Payments
Paid online by the family
- Live the same day by pasting notes
- Drivers see only what the ride needs
- BAAs signed before any real patient data
Pricing
$149 a ride.
Paid online, upfront.
One flat price for the ride home, whether the patient walks, uses a wheelchair, or needs a stretcher. The family sees it before booking and pays by card. No insurance forms, no waiting on approvals, no invoice later.
Walks
Door to door, for patients who walk with help.
Wheelchair
Ramp or lift vans, with drivers trained in securement.
Stretcher
Two person crews, for patients who cannot sit up.
- Families and patients payThe price comes by text with a secure payment link. Pay by card before pickup, the same way you pay for anything online.
- Free for discharge teamsCase managers book or send the family a link. There is nothing for the hospital to bill or approve.
- One flat price
- Paid online before pickup
- No insurance paperwork
One unit · free for your team · families pay per ride
Your unit’s first rides, booked with you.
Pilot Hestia on one discharge unit, free for your team. A founder sets it up with your case managers and books the first rides alongside them. Families pay for their ride online, so there is nothing to bill.
- 01Show us your dischargesHow rides get booked on your unit today, and where the hours go.
- 02We set up your unitYour pickup points, your family texts, our licensed providers. Live the same week.
- 03Book the first rides togetherA founder is on hand for the first rides. You keep it running.
Team
From Rockford.
Friends since elementary school. As teenagers we built a home services company to $125,000 in revenue, then worked side by side at Hemut (YC X25), helping close $275K in new contracts.
Conner Hawkins
Co-founder · Product and engineering
- Founded Northstack, a web studio, and grew it to $10K ARR in three months
- Product at Scalar Field (YC X25)
- 1st place, UChicago Uncommon Hacks 2026
- Finance and Information Systems, UIUC
Basim Shadidi
Co-founder · Data and operations
- Built lead-funnel dashboards at Hemut (YC X25)
- Wrote an automated ordering system for a 1,500-SKU retailer
- AI Applications, USC
Questions? Answers.
Who books rides?
Families book the ride home for someone leaving the hospital, patients book for themselves, and discharge teams book straight from the discharge note. Every ride goes to a licensed provider under contract with us.
Who pays, and how?
The family or the patient pays online: one flat $149, shown before booking and paid by card from a secure link. Hestia is built for people paying out of pocket, so there are no insurance forms, approvals, or waiting on a broker. It is free for discharge teams.
Who drives the patients?
Licensed wheelchair, stretcher, and sedan companies already working in the area, under contract with Hestia. No gig drivers.
How is this different from Uber Health, Medicaid brokers, or ride-booking software?
Uber Health and Lyft serve patients who can walk; we book wheelchair and stretcher rides too. Insurance brokers like ModivCare and MTM need forms and advance scheduling, and local van companies mean phone calls and call-backs. Hestia is for families paying out of pocket who want the ride booked now, at a price they see upfront.
Do we need an EHR integration to start?
No. Paste the note you already have and book the same day. Connecting the EHR discharge list comes when you're ready.
What about patient data?
The demo uses simulated patients only. Before real patient data, Hestia runs on HIPAA-eligible infrastructure with signed business associate agreements.
Something else? Email us.
See a discharge become a ride.
Simulated patients. No sign-up. About a minute.