If you have been injured on the job and have to attend medical appointments or go to the pharmacy for prescriptions and you drive yourself or have someone else drive you, then you are entitled to seek reimbursement for mileage from the workers’ compensation carrier. Medical appointments include but are not limited to doctors’ appointments, physical therapy, Functional Capacity Evaluations, hospitals, walk-in clinics, pharmacies, Independent Medical Evaluations (IME) set by workers compensation, or Expert Medical Advisor (EMA) appointments set by the court.
You are entitled to 44.5 cents per mile if you travel in your own vehicle or have a friend or relative drive you to and from medical appointments. See Florida Statutes.
In order to receive reimbursement, you must complete a Mileage Reimbursement form which is oftentimes included in the original package of documents you get from the workers’ compensation carrier. Oftentimes, injured workers overlook this form. We make sure all of our clients complete this form on a regular basis to maximize the full benefits allowed under the Florida workers compensation system. If you already completed and submitted a mileage reimbursement form to the carrier and you have not received payment within 30 days of the submission, contact our office so we can explain how we can help get you paid for your mileage reimbursement.
We have provided a copy of the required mileage reimbursement form on our website by clicking the link below.
If you do not own a vehicle or do not have a family member or friend who can take you to your appointments, then workers’ compensation has to provide you with transportation to and from all medical appointments including pharmacy trips. A specific request would need to be made directly to the workers compensation carrier for transportation. This request needs to be made with enough notice to allow for the transportation services to be coordinated with a vendor. Sometimes workers’ compensation will argue about offering transportation or they will authorize vendors who have a habit of failing to show up. If this has happened to you, contact our office so we can explain how we can help get you a different vendor and/or transportation services scheduled altogether.
Give us a call for a free consultation to discuss any of the issues above at 1-833-LAW-STONE or you can go to our website at www.injuryfloridalawfirm.com and send a message thru an online chat feature.