When your care team asks you to stay nearby
What to ask, and how to pick a place that fits the rule.
Quick answerSome treatments, such as CAR-T cell therapy, stem cell transplants and daily radiation or proton therapy, come with a rule to stay within a set time or distance of the hospital for weeks. The rule comes from your care team: ask them for it in writing, then pick a place to stay that fits it.
What some hospitals publish
Quoted from each hospital's own page. Your own team's rule is the one that counts.
- Cleveland Clinic, CAR-T cell therapy: Outpatients stay within 1 hour of Main Campus for the first week after infusion, then within 2 hours until 4 weeks after infusion. After an inpatient stay, patient and caregiver stay within 2 hours' drive until 4 weeks after infusion. Source
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, CAR-T cell therapy: Patients stay within 30 minutes of Dana-Farber for the length of treatment and for at least 14 days after. Source (March 2026)
- UCLA Health, CAR-T cell therapy: A caregiver stays with the patient around the clock, at a place within 5 miles of UCLA Health, through at least day 28. Source (2023)
- Seattle Children's, bone marrow or stem cell transplant: Families are asked to live within a 30-minute drive, in heavy traffic, of the hospital. Source
- MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, stem cell transplant: Autologous transplant patients stay in the area for 30 days; allogeneic transplant patients for 100 days after transplant. Source
- Mayo Clinic, outpatient bone marrow transplant: Follow-up visits for 2 to 3 weeks (autologous) or about 2 months (allogeneic); stay close to your treatment center, usually no more than 45 minutes away. Source
- Texas Children's Hospital, stem cell transplant: Transplant patients remain in the Houston area for the first 100 days after transplant. Source
- Duke Children's, stem cell transplant: Families stay in the area for at least 100 days after the transplant date. Source (October 2025)
- OHSU Doernbecher, bone marrow transplant and cellular therapy: Families living more than an hour outside the Portland area stay close to the hospital in the first few months after transplant. Source
- Fred Hutch, proton therapy: Most patients have treatment five days a week for one to nine weeks. Source (September 2026)
Questions to ask your team
- How close do we need to stay, in minutes or miles, and for how long?
- Does a caregiver need to stay with the patient the whole time?
- Does the hospital have its own housing, a lodging list or a shuttle?
- Which building or entrance will we use most?
Using our pages for this
Each hospital page sorts places to stay by measured walking minutes and lists charity houses first. Our times are walking estimates from the map, not driving times in traffic. If your rule is about driving time, check the drive at the hour you'd travel.