Rex says
Money math without the spreadsheet headache. Plug in your numbers and I'll show you exactly where the dollars land.
Try a scenario
Click to load — tweak from there.Inputs
Result
Net margin per visit after travel
$57.57
Total travel cost per visit
$20.43
Paid drive time cost
$14.40
Mileage reimbursement cost
$6.03
Visits possible in an 8-hour day
8.3
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How to use this
- 1Enter reimbursement per visit ($).
- 2Enter average one-way drive time between visits (min).
- 3Enter average one-way drive distance (mi).
- 4Enter mileage reimbursement rate ($/mi).
- 5Enter clinician hourly pay (incl. burden) ($/hr).
- 6Enter average in-home visit time (min).
- 7Read your net margin per visit after travel on the right — it updates as you type.
- 8Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
Home health and home-based primary care agencies lose margin invisibly to drive time and mileage that never shows up on a claim. A visit reimbursed at $110 can cost the agency far more once you account for the clinician's paid drive time, vehicle mileage reimbursement, and the opportunity cost of visits not made during transit. This calculator takes average one-way drive distance and time between visits, mileage reimbursement rate, clinician hourly pay, and reimbursement per visit to compute the true net margin per visit after travel cost, plus the maximum sustainable drive radius before a visit becomes unprofitable. It also estimates how many additional visits per day the clinician could complete if drive time were cut in half through better route sequencing or geographic zone assignment, which is often the single highest-leverage operational fix available to a home health agency. Rural agencies with 20+ minute average drive times between visits often see travel cost consume 15-25% of visit reimbursement, while urban/dense-suburban agencies with 5-8 minute drives keep that closer to 5-8%, which is why route density should be a primary factor in territory design, not an afterthought.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Reimbursement per visit: 110 $
- Average one-way drive time between visits: 18 min
- Average one-way drive distance: 9 mi
- Mileage reimbursement rate: 0.67 $/mi
- Clinician hourly pay (incl. burden): 48 $/hr
- Average in-home visit time: 40 min
Results
- Net margin per visit after travel: $57.57
- Total travel cost per visit: $20.43
- Paid drive time cost: $14.40
- Mileage reimbursement cost: $6.03
- Visits possible in an 8-hour day: 8.3
What each field means
Inputs
- Reimbursement per visit ($)
- The reimbursement per visit used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 110 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Average one-way drive time between visits (min)
- The average one-way drive time between visits used in the calculation, measured in min. Starts at 18 min so you have a working example on load.
- Average one-way drive distance (mi)
- The average one-way drive distance used in the calculation, measured in mi. Starts at 9 mi so you have a working example on load.
- Mileage reimbursement rate ($/mi)
- The mileage reimbursement rate used in the calculation, measured in $/mi. Starts at 0.67 $/mi so you have a working example on load.
- Clinician hourly pay (incl. burden) ($/hr)
- The clinician hourly pay (incl. burden) used in the calculation, measured in $/hr. Starts at 48 $/hr so you have a working example on load.
- Average in-home visit time (min)
- The average in-home visit time used in the calculation, measured in min. Starts at 40 min so you have a working example on load.
Results
- Net margin per visit after travel
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars and shown as the headline result. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Total travel cost per visit
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Paid drive time cost
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Mileage reimbursement cost
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Visits possible in an 8-hour day
- Returned as a whole number. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
FAQ
What drive time percentage is typical for home health?
Well-optimized urban agencies keep drive time to 15-20% of a clinician's paid day; rural agencies routinely run 30-40%. Above 40%, it's worth reassessing territory boundaries or hiring additional clinicians to shrink geographic zones rather than accepting the productivity loss.
Should I use the IRS mileage rate or actual vehicle cost?
The IRS standard rate ($0.67/mile for 2024) is the common default and simplifies payroll, but if clinicians drive company vehicles, use actual fuel plus maintenance plus depreciation, which is often lower per mile for high-mileage drivers and higher for low-mileage ones.
How much would route optimization software actually save?
Agencies report 10-20% drive time reduction from geographic zone-based scheduling and route sequencing software versus ad hoc scheduling. On a 100-visit-per-day agency, a 15% drive time cut can free up capacity for 5-8 additional visits daily without adding staff.
Does this apply to home-based primary care physicians too?
Yes, the same math applies — physician time is simply more expensive per hour, which makes drive time cost proportionally larger. Physician house-call programs often need tighter geographic panels than nurse-driven home health for this reason.
Accuracy and limitations
- Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.
- Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.
- This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant.
Related tools
Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). Home Health Visit Cost Per Mile Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/home-health-visit-cost-per-mile
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/home-health-visit-cost-per-mile" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Home Health Visit Cost Per Mile Calculator — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [Home Health Visit Cost Per Mile Calculator — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/home-health-visit-cost-per-mile) (2026).