4 Best Practices for Healthcare Mileage Reporting

Kyla Kent | 08-21-2018

Healthcare organizations already know that tracking personal mileage can be difficult. Relying on employees to estimate miles driven, then manually entering miles into expense reports limits reliability and efficiency. Especially when managing large amounts of people and data, a manual mileage tracking process could actually be costing your organization money.

With mobile healthcare on the rise, it’s time to start planning for the future.

 

Mobile Healthcare is on the Rise

At 11%, SAP Concur healthcare customers spend the highest portion on personal car mileage, more than double the average spend of any other industry. And it’s only going to get more expensive. The demand for mobile healthcare will continue to increase as the number of Americans 65 and older double in the coming decades, requiring significantly more care as a result. This growth means more of your staff, such as nurses and hospice workers, traveling on the road to a variety of locations. Without a complete mileage solution, keeping up with accurate mileage reporting will continue to be frustrating as your organization grows.

Smooth out the road for your organization and save money in your budget by incorporating these four best practices for managing transportation and personal mileage expenses.

 

Best Practices for Mileage Reporting

 

1. Evolve Your Guidance

Clearly define your expense policies by including personal mileage dos and don’ts. Employees will be more than happy when you provide them with easily accessible guidance to keep them compliant, their reports accurate, and allow for the quickest possible reimbursement. Make sure to review and adjust guidelines yearly to ensure they still meet the needs of your business and travelers.

Your organization’s personal mileage policy should include information on:

  • When expense reports for mileage should be submitted
  • When to use a personal car versus a car rental
  • The varying rates for different employee groups, if any
  • Clear expectations for what will and won’t be reimbursed

 

2. Set High Expectations

On the spend management spectrum, personal mileage offers little control and less data for healthcare organizations. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Set higher expectations to gain greater visibility and control on the dollars your staff are spending.

Accurately capture and reimburse personal mileage by:

  • Requiring documentation for distance traveled
  • Utilizing the expense data you have to gain visibility into organization spend
  • Checking for travelers that have excessive personal car mileage

 

3. Keep it Accurate

With so many healthcare professionals on the road, accurately tracking mileage can make a big difference in managing your employee spend budget. Especially since tracking transportation is the second highest expense incurred by healthcare organizations, after airfare.

 

Companies save an average 20% on cost savings after moving from self-reported mileage to automated GPS mileage tracking -  Motus Mileage tracker

 

Providing and encouraging the use of tools like GPS tracking can help with accuracy, as well as:

  • Enable employees to effortlessly capture distance traveled
  • Increase accuracy of distances reported and reimbursed
  • Collect information you need for compliance and tax reporting
  • Increase employee compliance and minimize the temptation of fraud

 

4. Make it all Mobile

Train staff to track mileage with a device they already know and love—their mobile phone.

In a recent study, Forrester found that 43% of organizations consider a T&E system offered through a mobile app as the most effective way to maintain compliance. With a mobile app, employees are more likely to use it on the go and submit information instantly rather than estimating miles later. Motus mileage tracker also found that companies save an average 20% on cost savings after moving from self-reported mileage to automated GPS mileage tracking.

Tracking mileage through a mobile app is:

  • Simple
  • Intuitive
  • Automated

 

Concur Drive

Mobile GPS tracking solutions such as Concur Drive put an end to self-reported mileage altogether. Let staff set and forget their mileage tracking, automatically turn mileage log into expense line items in Concur Expense and free up time from administrative so that they can get back to caring for patients.

For more about Concur Drive, download our brochure or learn more about the features of Drive.