A Mileage Rate Isn’t a Transportation Rate. Here’s What Each One Actually Reflects.
Several states raised their standard mileage reimbursement rate this year, following a midyear increase to the federal mileage rate. When a reimbursement rate changes, it is common for that figure to get compared against a transportation invoice, as though the two numbers should move together. They do not, and the difference is worth understanding before it becomes a point of confusion on a file.
A mileage reimbursement rate compensates an injured worker for using a personal vehicle to reach a medical appointment. It is a straightforward, per-mile figure, set at the state level and tied to distance traveled. A transportation invoice reflects something different: a coordinated service built to get an injured worker to that appointment reliably, on time, and without the appointment becoming something the injured worker has to manage alone. These are not the same measurement, and comparing them directly produces a misleading picture of cost.
What a Transportation Invoice Actually Reflects
Provider availability and dispatch, matched to what the appointment actually requires, whether that is an ambulatory vehicle, a wheelchair lift van, or stretcher transport.
Confirmation with the injured worker and the facility before the appointment, not a single scheduling call weeks in advance.
Coordination for accessibility needs, additional passengers, or connecting services when an appointment requires more than a single ride.
A documented, timestamped record of the assignment, produced if the appointment is ever questioned later in the life of the claim.
Why the Distinction Matters on a File
Treating a mileage rate as a benchmark for transportation cost can lead to the wrong conclusion at the wrong time, particularly on a claim where an injured worker cannot reliably self-transport. A missed or delayed appointment is rarely just a scheduling setback. In a litigated claim, it can affect treatment timelines, complicate an independent medical examination, and in some jurisdictions carry consequences tied to the injured worker’s ongoing benefits. The reimbursement figure was never designed to answer whether an injured worker can get to an appointment. It only answers what a personal vehicle costs to operate.
At Transcom Solutions, we track mileage reimbursement changes across every state we operate in, and we keep that tracking separate from what a coordinated transportation assignment actually costs to deliver. When an invoice reaches your desk, it reflects a completed appointment, confirmed and documented from intake through arrival, not a rate that was never built to price it.