Form CMS 1500: An Invaluable Tool for Small Businesses in the Health Care Sector

The single most common medical claim form currently available in the US is the CMS 1500. It is so popular that it can be purchased in 500 sheet pads on Amazon.

The CMS 1500
, also known as the HCFA Claim Form, was originally developed for non-institutional health care providers to bill Medicare and Medicaid for services rendered. The form continues to be used for this purpose, but has also become the standard for billing private insurers for any coverable services.

This is an especially useful form for small businesses providing rental of durable medical equipment, medical transport services, laboratory diagnostic services, and private practice mental health care and social work. These are just a few of a long list of types of services that can be billed to any insurer via this form.

In fact, many small medical billing businesses have sprung up just to complete and process this form on behalf of individuals and other small businesses that need it – though it is illegal to charge to complete the CMS 1500 for submission to Medicare or Medicaid, it is perfectly legal and common to charge a small fee to complete the form for submission to private insurers.

The following two part video explains in detail how to complete Form CMS 1500.

Note that there are a few stringent requirements surrounding Form CMS 1500: The form must be printed in the proper color ink – either black ink or typed. If you are submitting Form CMS 1500 to Medicare, you must do so electronically once you have completed it unless you are an individual or representing a company of 10 employees or less. There is also a time limitation on getting reimbursed for these kinds of claims, and correcting inaccurate or incomplete forms does not buy you any additional time.

Whether you are a Home Health Care Provider, a Midwife, a Social Worker, or a medical billing startup, this form is an excellent tool to have on hand. But no need to buy the 500 sheet pad on Amazon – we have the paperless version of Form CMS 1500 right here on PDFfiller.com.