Billing

Billing Medicare Part A When Veteran’s Administration Eligible Medicare Beneficiaries Receive Services in Non-VA Facilities

Table of Contents

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Background

Each time a Medicare beneficiary, who is also eligible for VA benefits, receives services in a non-VA facility, the beneficiary may choose to use their Medicare or their VA benefits to pay for the services. How a non-VA facility submits your claim(s) depends on whether the

  • Beneficiary chooses to use their Medicare or VA benefits
  • VA authorizes/pays or does not authorize/pay the claim (when the beneficiary chose to use their VA benefits)
  • VA pays in part or in full (when the beneficiary chose to use their VA benefits and the VA pays)
  • Services are inpatient or outpatient

When billing us for services your non-VA facility rendered to VA-eligible beneficiaries, report CC 26 as instructed below (optional in some cases). The CC 26 indicates a VA-eligible beneficiary chose to receive services in a Medicare-certified facility rather than a VA facility.

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Beneficiary Chooses to Use Medicare

If a VA-eligible Medicare beneficiary chooses to use Medicare as the payer for the services in your non-VA facility, submit a Medicare primary claim to us. You may report CC 26 on the outpatient but not on the inpatient claims.

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Beneficiary Chooses to Use VA Benefits

If a VA-eligible beneficiary chooses to use their VA benefits as the payer for services in your non-VA facility, seek authorization from and payment by the VA. The beneficiary may seek such authorization rather than the non-VA facility.

If the VA does not authorize and/or pay for the services in your non-VA facility, submit a Medicare primary (not conditional) claim to us. You may report CC 26 on the outpatient but not on the inpatient claims.

If the VA authorizes and pays for the services in your non-VA facility, submit the claim(s) as follows:

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  • VA Paid in Part for Inpatient Services

    • If the VA pays part of an inpatient hospital or SNF stay, submit your inpatient claim(s) to us as usual (hospitals submit admission to discharge claims and SNFs submit monthly claims) and we will determine if a secondary payment is due per the MSPPAY module. Do not split your claims during your billing period based on the date on which the VA started/stopped paying. On your claim, report:
      • CC 26
      • VC 42 with the amount of the VA’s partial payment
      • VA as the primary payer (if using FISS DDE, use code ID = “I” for VA)
      • Medicare as the secondary payer
      • All Medicare-covered services/charges including those the VA paid
  • VA Paid in Part for Outpatient Services

    • If the VA pays part of the outpatient services, submit a claim to us for only the Medicare-covered services/charges the VA did not pay. You may report CC 26 (optional).
  • VA Paid in Full for Inpatient Services

  • VA Paid in Full for Outpatient Services

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Revised 11/4/2024