Careswitch can pay caregivers for the travel between clients, and it handles mileage and travel time as two separate things. Each is turned on or off independently and has its own rate, so you can use one without the other — for example, pay travel time between visits but not mileage. These are workspace-wide settings: they apply to every caregiver and client in your workspace.
Two things are always kept separate here: mileage vs. travel time, and the pay side (what you reimburse the caregiver) vs. the bill side (what you charge the client). For the client-billing side, see Expenses, mileage, and rate modifiers on a bill.
Quick reference: common setups
All of these live under Settings → Policies:
Pay travel time, not mileage: set Travel Time to Automatic and Mileage to No Mileage Collection.
Pay both automatically: set both Mileage and Travel Time to Automatic.
Let caregivers log their own: use Caregiver Entry.
Pay caregivers but don't charge the client: keep collection on and set the Bill Rate to $0.00.
Turn it off entirely: choose No Collection.
Where to find the settings
Mileage and travel time each have their own page:
Settings → Policies → Mileage
Settings → Policies → Travel Time
Changing these settings requires admin access to your workspace settings. Each page has the same shape: a collection dropdown, and — when collection is on — a caregiver pay rate and a client bill rate.
How to change a setting
Go to Settings → Policies → Mileage (or Travel Time).
Pick a mode from the Mileage Collection (or Travel Time Collection) dropdown. A short description of the selected mode appears under the dropdown.
If the mode is on, set the rates:
Reimbursement Rate / Pay Rate — what the caregiver is paid (per mile for mileage, per hour for travel time).
Bill Rate — what the client is charged. Set it to $0.00 if you don't charge for it.
Click Save.
Careswitch shows a warning if you set mileage pay below the federal reimbursement rate ($0.66/mile) or travel-time pay below the federal minimum wage ($7.25/hour) — a prompt to double-check, not a block. A higher state or local minimum wage may also apply to travel time.
Important: the page reminds you that changes won't apply to shifts that have already been completed — only to shifts completed after you save. See "Changing a setting isn't retroactive" below.
The four collection modes
Mileage and Travel Time each offer the same four options:
No Collection — not tracked or paid at all.
Caregiver Entry — caregivers enter it themselves when they clock out.
Automatic — Careswitch estimates it (via Google) between two back-to-back shifts on the same day. The first shift of the day is never auto-captured.
Caregiver Entry + Automatic — caregivers enter it for the first shift of the day, and for later back-to-back shifts the automatic estimate replaces the caregiver's entry.
How "Automatic" works
Automatic is specifically about travel between clients. When the same caregiver finishes one client's visit and has another client's visit later the same day, Careswitch measures the drive from the first client to the second — driving distance for mileage, driving time for travel time.
It's calculated once both visits are completed (clocked out), not while they're still scheduled.
It uses the location captured when the caregiver clocked in at each client. If a location wasn't captured on one of the visits, that leg is skipped rather than guessed.
The first visit of the day never gets it. There's no earlier client to drive from. (Automatic also doesn't pay the drive from home to the first client, or from the last client back home — only client-to-client.)
It's based on the two visits, not the actual route. If a caregiver runs an errand or goes home in between, the estimate still reflects the drive from the first client to the second. You can adjust the value on the shift if you need to (see below).
It re-checks itself if shifts change. Completing or canceling a visit re-links the neighboring visits, so the between-client estimate stays correct.
How "Caregiver Entry" works
With Caregiver Entry on, caregivers are asked to enter mileage and/or travel time on the mobile app when they clock out of a visit. The amount they enter flows into payroll at your workspace pay rate. This is useful when the drive you want to pay for isn't simply client-to-client (for example, errands run during a visit).
How pay is calculated (and how rates are locked in)
Mileage pay = miles × your reimbursement rate.
Travel-time pay = time × your travel-time pay rate.
The rate is locked in at the moment a shift is completed. If you change a rate in Settings later, already-completed shifts keep the rate they were finished with, and only newly completed shifts use the new rate. So changing a rate is not retroactive — see below.
What you charge the client (the bill side) is tracked separately, with its own rate, and can differ from what you pay the caregiver.
Where it shows up
On a completed shift — and on the caregiver's timesheet inside a payroll run — mileage and travel time each appear as their own line in the pay breakdown, separate from the care hours.
Changing or removing it on a single shift
You can adjust mileage or travel time on any completed shift:
Open the shift, or open the caregiver's timesheet inside the payroll run.
Find the Mileage or Travel Time line in the pay breakdown.
Click the ⋯ menu on that line and choose Edit.
Change the amount — set it to 0 to remove it — and click Save.
A few notes:
Editing changes the miles or minutes; the rate stays whatever was locked in when the shift was completed.
You can edit a completed shift as long as it isn't on a payroll run that's already processing or paid.
To fix several shifts at once, ask Command Center to set the mileage (or travel time) to zero on the shifts you name — it handles them in one go.
Changing a setting isn't retroactive
Turning a mode on or off, or changing a rate, only affects shifts completed after you save. Shifts that were already completed keep whatever was calculated at the time. So the order to follow is:
First, change the setting (for example, switch Mileage to No Mileage Collection).
Then, clean up any shifts in the current pay period that already picked up the old value, using the per-shift steps above (or Command Center for several at once).
Who can change what
The settings (Settings → Policies → Mileage / Travel Time) — workspace admins.
Mileage or travel time on an individual shift — anyone with permission to manage shifts.
FAQ
We only want to pay travel time, not mileage. How?
Set Travel Time to Automatic and Mileage to No Mileage Collection under Settings → Policies. Then clear mileage off any already-completed shifts in the open pay period, since the change isn't retroactive.
We want to pay caregivers but not charge the client. How?
Keep collection on and set the Bill Rate to $0.00 on that settings page. The caregiver is still paid at your reimbursement/pay rate; the client simply isn't charged.
Why did a caregiver get paid mileage between two clients?
Mileage is set to Automatic, which estimates the drive between back-to-back visits on the same day. Switch it to No Mileage Collection if you don't want to pay it.
Why didn't the first visit of the day get mileage or travel time?
That's expected. Automatic only covers travel between visits, so the first visit — with no earlier client to drive from — never gets it.
A caregiver went home between two clients. Why were they still paid the full client-to-client drive?
Automatic always estimates the drive from one client to the next, regardless of the actual route taken. If that's not what you want to pay, edit the value on the shift (⋯ → Edit), or use Caregiver Entry so caregivers report the real amount.
I changed the rate. Did past shifts update?
No. The rate is locked in when a shift is completed, so already-completed shifts keep their original rate. Only shifts completed after the change use the new rate.
I turned mileage off but old shifts still show it. Why?
The setting only affects shifts completed after the change. Edit the older shifts to remove the mileage (⋯ → Edit, set to 0, Save), or ask Command Center to clear them.
Can caregivers add mileage or travel time themselves?
Yes — use Caregiver Entry (or Caregiver Entry + Automatic). Caregivers then enter the value at clock-out on the mobile app.
Can I pay the caregiver a different amount than I bill the client?
Yes. The pay and bill sides are independent, each with its own rate. See Expenses, mileage, and rate modifiers on a bill.
Do mileage and travel time go on insurance claims?
No. Insurance claims bill the care hours worked; mileage and travel time aren't included on a claim. They apply to caregiver pay and to private-pay billing.