(1) Individual providers must provide an estimate of planned travel time and request approval from the department in advance of travel. The reasonableness of the request may be verified by the department using an online mapping tool. 

(2) Travel time is calculated based upon the actual time to travel directly between worksites during each work day and is rounded to the nearest fifteen minutes. If more than one trip between worksites is made in a day, direct travel times are added together and rounded to the nearest fifteen minutes once each day.

(3) Regardless of the estimated travel time, individual providers may only bill for actual time spent traveling as calculated in subsection (2) of this section.

(4) If the individual provider has unexpected or unplanned travel time, the individual provider must contact the department to request approval and authorization for payment of the unplanned travel. The department will approve unplanned travel time requests related to client health and safety or due to traffic conditions outside the individual provider's control.