Filing a CMS-1500 Claim form to Medicare PUB-100 40.1.1.1

by  Find-A-Code™
Jan 4th, 2018

An independent clinical laboratory may file a paper claim form shall file Form CMS-1500 for a referred laboratory service (as it would any laboratory service). The line item services must be submitted with a modifier 90.

An independent clinical laboratory that submits claims in paper format) may not combine non-referred (i.e., self-performed) and referred services on the same CMS 1500 claim form. When the referring laboratory bills for both non-referred and referred tests, it shall submit two separate claims, one claim for non-referred tests, the other for referred tests. If billing for services that have been referred to more than one laboratory, the referring the laboratory shall submit a separate claim for each laboratory to which services were referred (unless one or more of the reference laboratories are separately billing Medicare).

A paper claim that contains both non-referred and referred tests is returned as unprocessable. When the referring laboratory is the billing laboratory, the reference laboratory’s name, address, and ZIP Code shall be reported in item 32 on the CMS-1500 claim form to show where the service (test) was actually performed. The NPI shall be reported in item 32a. Also, the CLIA number of the reference laboratory shall be reported in item 23 on the CMS-1500 claim form. A paper claim that does not have the name, address and ZIP Code of the reference laboratory in item 32 and NPI in 32a or the CLIA number of the reference laboratory in item 23 is returned as unprocessable.

EXAMPLE: A physician has ordered the ABC Laboratory to perform carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and hemoglobin testing for a patient. Since the ABC Laboratory is approved to perform tests only within the hematology LC level (which includes the hemoglobin test), it refers the CEA testing (which is a routine chemistry LC) to the XYZ laboratory.

Result: The ABC laboratory submits a claim for the hemoglobin test and reports its CLIA number in item 23 on the CMS-1500 form. Since the ABC laboratory referred the CEA test to the XYZ laboratory to perform, the ABC laboratory (billing laboratory) submits a second claim for the CEA testing, reporting XYZ’s CLIA number in item 23 on the CMS-1500 form. The XYZ laboratory’s name, address, and ZIP Code are also reported in item 32 and the NPI is reported in item 32a on Form CMS-1500 to show where the service (test) was actually rendered.

NOTE: Effective for claims submitted with a receipt date on and after October 1, 2015, the billing physician or supplier must report the name, address, and NPI of the performing physician or supplier in Item 32a on anti-markup and reference laboratory claims, even if the performing physician or supplier is enrolled in a different A/B MAC (B) jurisdiction. See Pub. 100-04, Chapter 1, §10.1.1 for more information regarding claims filing jurisdiction.