Overview
If you provide community-based or home visit services, you can document the travel involved in a visit directly on the encounter, and Ritten will generate the right claims automatically. This is built for Minnesota providers billing HCPCS H0046 for mental health provider travel time, but any team documenting travel to a client can use it. It is complementary to Encounter Location Verification.
How it works
An Admin turns on travel documentation for the encounter types that need it. From there, a Provider can add one or more Routes to an encounter — each Route captures where they traveled from and to, when, and how far. Ritten totals the time and distance across all Routes on the encounter, and your existing Service Rules use that total to bill travel correctly, whether that means a separate claim or an add-on code on the same claim.
Before you begin
Permission required: Admin to enable travel documentation on an encounter type.
Travel documentation is only available on Individual encounter types — it can't be added to group encounters.
How to turn on travel documentation for an encounter type
Navigate to Configurations > Encounters to edit your encounter type settings.
Select the individual encounter type you want to enable travel for.
Toggle on Travel.
If you want staff to document travel before they can complete the encounter, toggle on Require travel to complete encounter.
Note: When travel time is required, staff can't complete the encounter until they've added at least one Route, the same way other required encounter fields work.
How to log travel on an encounter
Open an encounter of a type that has travel documentation enabled.
Click Add Travel.
Enter a Route— type a custom start and end address, or select an existing Facility address or the client's home address.
Select your travel start time.
Ritten will calculate estimated travel time and distance for the route.
If the auto-calculated time and distance need to be adjusted (for example, due to traffic or a detour), select Edit Manually to change these values.
You may undo a manual edit by selecting Recalculate, which will again estimate travel time and distance.
Select Add Route, and repeat for each additional leg of the trip.
Reviewing travel totals
At the top of the Encounter, and in the side drawer listing Routes, Ritten shows:
Total Time — the sum of all Route durations, in minutes.
Total Distance — the sum of all Route distances, in miles.
Total Time in minutes is the billable unit for travel when creating and submitting claims; Total Distance is captured for audit purposes and internal record keeping–it does not appear on claims.
How travel bills
Travel bills under code H0046, in whole minutes, and minutes are never rounded up. Within Configurations > Billing > Service Rules, you have the following options for how to include travel on claims:
Clinical service and travel time appear on the same single claim when the service has no authorization, and on two separate claims when the service is authorized
If the clinical service has an authorization, Ritten creates two claims — one for the encounter and one for travel — and links both back to the same service. This accounts for scenarios where a payer may reject a claim when authorization doesn’t cover travel.
If it doesn't have an authorization, Ritten adds travel as an add-on code on the same claim as the clinical service.
Always include travel on the same claim
Travel will appear as an add-on code on the same claim as the clinical service to which it relates, regardless of authorization.
Always split travel onto a separate claim
The clinical service and related travel will appear on separate claims.
Don’t include travel on claims
Travel time is recorded on the encounter, but will not appear on claims at all. If travel is captured only for audit purposes or internal record keeping, but is not billed, this option will exclude it from claims.
Distance and any addresses captured on a Route are never sent on a claim — only minutes traveled.
Exports and reporting
To share travel information–for audit purposes or at a client’s request–navigate to the Encounter and select Export Encounter from the overflow menu. Travel is included in exported information by default, and may optionally be excluded as well. If a Route includes an address you'd rather not share (a provider's home address, for example), toggle Exclude address information on before selecting Export. Ritten still includes total travel time and total distance in the export; it just leaves out the origin and destination addresses.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Can I bill for miles traveled, not just time?
A: No, only minutes traveled go on a claim. Distance is still captured and available in exports and reports for your own reimbursement tracking.
Q: Can I document travel on a group encounter?
A: No, travel documentation is only available on Individual encounter types.
Q: Do I have to use the automatic distance and time estimate?
A: No, you can enter start and end address, times, and distance manually without using the automatic estimate.
Q: Can I use this feature in combination with Electronic Visit Verification (EVV)?
A: Yes, EVV and billing for travel are complementary features that may be used together for an encounter that requires both. See Encounter Location Verification for details.