Void claim

A void tells the payer the claim should not exist. On the CMS-1500 it is code 8 in item 22, next to the original reference number¹. On an institutional claim it is a type of bill ending in 8. In the 837 it is frequency code 8, with the payer’s claim control number for the original in a REF segment, qualifier F8⁴. The payer reverses the original claim and takes back what it paid; Medicare treats an adjustment that only recoups or cancels a prior payment as a credit, matched to the original by control number, surname and beneficiary identifier².

Medicare Part A keeps cancels narrow. Its manual accepts a cancel-only bill to fix a wrong provider number or a wrong beneficiary identifier, or to give back a duplicate payment or an OIG overpayment, and each carries the claim change reason condition code that fits, D5 or D6. Other corrections go through an adjustment bill ending in 7. After cancelling a bill for the wrong patient or provider, the provider sends a new original bill². A home health agency that cancels a claim also adds a remark saying why³.

The mistake is voiding when a replacement would do. A void followed by a rebill takes the payment back first, and the new claim then has to pass the payer’s edits and its filing limit on its own. If the claim is for the right patient with some wrong data, send a replacement with frequency code 7 instead. Void only a claim that should never have been billed.