You got hurt at work in Georgia, and the treatment plan involves physical therapy two or three times a week across town. You cannot drive, or you do not have a car. Who pays for the rides? Georgia workers' comp law has an answer, but it is narrower and more practical than most people expect. This guide is informational only, not legal advice. Your attorney or adjuster is the authority on your claim.
The Short Version
Georgia's workers' comp rules say the employer or insurer covers the reasonable cost of travel between your home and authorized medical care: examination, treatment, physical therapy, or pharmacy. For your own car, the mileage rate is 45 cents per mile for travel on or after July 1, 2023. Reimbursement comes after you submit an itemized written request, and it is due within 15 days of the employer or insurer receiving it. Anything beyond mileage, like a hired ride to physical therapy, may be reimbursable in some situations, but that is a gray area to clear with your attorney rather than assume.
What the Rule Actually Says
SBWC Board Rule 203(d) states that medical expenses include the reasonable cost of travel between the employee's home and the place of examination, treatment, physical therapy, or pharmacy. Two words carry the weight: reasonable and authorized. The travel obligation covers care connected to your workers' comp claim, not any doctor visit you choose on your own. A ride to the authorized physical therapy clinic counts; a ride to run errands after does not.
The 45-Cents-a-Mile Number
SBWC Board Rule 203(e) sets the private-vehicle reimbursement rate at 45 cents per mile for travel on or after July 1, 2023, raised from 40 cents. Many older attorney blogs still show 40 cents, so check the date when you read outside sources. That rate covers driving your own car, or a family member driving you in theirs, to authorized care. It does not automatically translate to a hired ride being covered at whatever it costs. Bus fare, taxi, ride-share, or a wheelchair van lives in the reasonable-cost-of-travel language, and how that applies to hired rides is the gray area below. Reimbursement is due within 15 days of the employer or insurer receiving your itemized written request. The clock starts when they receive the request, not when the trip happened, so submit promptly and keep proof.
What Authorized Means, and Why It Controls Everything
In Georgia workers' comp, authorized is a term of art. Under O.C.G.A. 34-9-201, your employer must post a panel of at least six physicians. You pick your treating doctor from that panel, and treatment flows from there: referrals to physical therapy, specialists, and follow-up visits. Emergency care is the exception. Travel reimbursement attaches to that structure. A recurring ride to the physical therapy clinic your authorized doctor referred is squarely inside the rule; a ride to a specialist outside the panel you chose on your own is not. That is also why workers' comp transport tends to be recurring: physical therapy two to three times a week for weeks, plus follow-up visits and sometimes a carrier-scheduled independent medical exam.
Hired Rides: The Honest Gray Area
Here is where candor matters. No Georgia statute or Board rule we could find says the insurer must hire a medical transportation company. What exists is interpretation of the same reasonable-cost-of-travel language. Georgia workers' comp attorneys have argued the point, and some state an injured worker may be entitled to a medical transportation company when they legitimately have no other way to get to the authorized appointment. Note the word may. This is attorney interpretation, not Board precedent, and we are not aware of any verified Georgia case ordering an insurer to pay a third-party NEMT vendor for routine physical therapy rides. If you cannot drive, ask your attorney or adjuster directly whether a hired ride can be approved or reimbursed, and get the answer in writing. If you book yourself, keep the receipt and include it in your itemized written request. Large insurers often route transportation through national vendors, so ask your adjuster about the preferred process before booking independently.
The Paper Trail That Actually Gets You Paid
Reimbursement runs on documentation. Keep every receipt, every parking stub, and every toll. Log every trip with the date, starting address, destination, the appointment it was for, and the authorized provider. Submit itemized written requests promptly, and batch your trips regularly rather than letting three months pile up. Know what is authorized before you travel, and note the date and who approved any specific transport arrangement.
What This Means for Rides With Us
Atlanta Ride Care is a private-pay medical transportation company. We do not bill workers' comp insurers directly, and we do not work through transportation brokers or national vendor networks. Our workers' comp riders are paid for by the worker, a family member, or sometimes the employer, and any reimbursement for those ride costs runs through the worker's claim under the rules above, not through us. What we provide: scheduled and recurring rides to authorized appointments, with a receipt for every trip so you have the documentation your itemized request needs.
A Final Boundary, Stated Plainly
This page is informational, not legal advice, and it cannot answer whether a hired ride is reimbursable under your specific claim. Workers' comp outcomes turn on the facts of the injury, the authorized providers, and the employer's carrier. If anything on this page conflicts with what your attorney tells you, your attorney is right and this page is wrong.