California WC Medical Mileage Rate To Increase For Travel O/A 1/1/11

This week the IRS announced that the standard mileage rate for business miles will increase from 50¢ per mile to 51¢ per mile effective January 1, 2011. As a result, the amount payable to injured workers for travel related to medical treatment or evaluation of their injuries will increase to the new rate as well. Workers’ compensation claims administrators should apply the new rate for travel on or after January 1, 2011, regardless of the date of injury, but should continue to pay the 2010 rate of 50¢ per mile for travel from January 1 through December 31, 2010.

California workers’ compensation medical mileage requirements [LC §4600(e)(2)] work in conjunction with Government Code 19820 and Department of Personnel Administration (DPA) regulations. Claims administrators are required to reimburse mileage at the rate adopted by the DPA Director for non-represented (excluded) state employees, which is tied to the IRS published mileage rate.

Today’s IRS announcement (www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=232017,00.html) explains that the 2011 mileage rates were updated following an independent, annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile. The increased mileage rates for 2011 reflect generally higher transportation costs compared to a year ago, factoring in not only rising gasoline prices, but other fixed and variable costs, including depreciation.

The Institute has issued a Bulletin and a news release on the new rate, which are posted on our website (www.cwci.org). The DWC is expected to issue a Newsline on the 2011 rate once the DPA issues a Personnel Management Liaison memo announcing the change to all state agencies and departments. All DWC Newslines are posted at www.dir.ca.gov/dwc/dwc_newsline.html. Because of the string of mileage rate changes over the past three years, DWC has posted downloadable mileage-expense forms at http://www.dir.ca.gov/dwc/forms.html to show applicable rates based on the travel date. A new form with the 2011 rate is expected to be posted soon. However, given the upcoming holidays and the time required to update systems, claims administrators may wish to alert their system programmers of the upcoming change.

BY/