Recently, CMS released a revision to its Medicare Claims

Processing Manual (Transmittal 1279, adding section 30.3.13

"Charges for Missed Appointments") clarifying that physicians and suppliers may charge beneficiaries for missed

appointments provided that they charge all of their patients, both Medicare and non-Medicare, and do not discriminate against Medicare beneficiaries. The Manual revision does not represent a change in CMS policy. Physicians and suppliers have historically been able to charge beneficiaries for missed appointments, so long as their missed appointment policy was not discriminatory. CMS' new policy, however, clearly articulated and renders accessible what had been an unwritten Medicare policy. That Medicare permits a nondiscriminatory missed appointment fee, however, does not necessarily mean that providers are free to charge one.

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