On the CMS-1500 claim form, Box 14 dates the start of the patient's current illness, injury, or pregnancy. This guide explains what the box means and how Pabau handles it.
NOTE: This article is part of the US Insurance Billing Additional Resources series, which walks through every box of the CMS-1500. If you are new to claims in Pabau, start with Creating a US Professional (CMS 1500) Claim.
Box 14 — Date of current illness, injury or pregnancy (LMP)
Box 14 carries an onset date — when the current illness or injury began, or, for pregnancy claims, the last menstrual period (the LMP in the box title) — and a QUAL cell whose qualifier tells the payer which of those the date is. The box is situational: most professional claims are processed without it, and payers only expect it when the onset date affects how they adjudicate the claim.
How Pabau fills it
Pabau leaves Box 14 blank — the claim editor has no onset-of-illness or last menstrual period field, so nothing is printed in the box or sent electronically for it. For most professional claims that is exactly right, and there is nothing to add.
NOTE: An accident date is a different lane: Pabau does collect the Accident / injury date on the claim, but it belongs in Box 15 with qualifier 439, not in Box 14. See Box 15 – Other Date.
If a payer does require an onset date, add it in the Claim.MD portal after sending the claim (open the claim under Manage Claim and edit it there), or hand-fill the box on the printed form.
For printing and hand-finishing paper claims, see Exporting and Submitting CMS1500 Claims Manually.