Howdy, this is Kim Wyatt and I’m the Managing Attorney at the Work Comp Department here at Bailey & Galyen.
Did you know that you could possibly be reimbursed for mileage, your travel costs and possibly meals and overnight stays from your home to your doctors offices? It is called DWC Form 48, you would submit this form directly to the insurance adjuster.
Be sure when you fill out the form you need to fill out the address from and the address to, the miles travelled, (the miles can pretty much be what you can enter in Google Maps or a Mapquest search). It is not going to always be what you actually drove it’s going to be considered the quickest point between point A and point B.
It requires that you have to drive more than 30 miles one way to qualify for mileage so basically 60 miles round trip and up not 29.5 it’s what the map says. If it is more than 30 miles one way you can submit your request on DWC Form 48.
You have one year from the date of the travel to submit your mileage request. Be sure that when you send your mileage request to the adjuster with everything filled out on the form that you have a way of knowing when you sent it.
If you fax it, keep the fax confirmation. If you mailed it make sure to send it certified mail with some sort of return receipt. The reason why is the insurance adjuster has 45 days to make a decision on whether to pay you your mileage or not. If they don’t make their decision within 45 days then they will need to pay you.
A lot of times they will review it sooner. Hopefully the adjuster issue the reimbursement check and it’s whatever the states reimbursement rate is I think right now it may be 56 cents per mile i’m not sure. But it does change so whatever the current mileage reimbursement rate is you get that per mile.
When you request the miles you are going to send it to the insurance adjuster they’re going to have time to review it, and they have 45 days to make a decision on it. DO KNOW that if the adjuster is able to find a doctor within 30 miles of your house whether or not you would be able to treat with that facility or not they do not have to pay the mileage. So people that are in the more populated areas of Dallas and Fort Worth if you’re going to your doctor across town and you are passing 10 different clinics to get there your mileage you can expect it to be denied. It is a loophole that the adjusters will not pay mileage if they can look it up and find another doctor that does take Workers’ Comp within your area at another location that is closer to you regardless of whether that doctor would take it or not.
