On the CMS-1500 claim form, Box 28 shows the total charge for all the services on the claim — the sum of every charge line. This guide explains what the box means and how Pabau calculates it for you.
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 28 — Total Charge
Box 28 is the sum of the individual charges on the claim — every charge line's amount (Box 24F) added together. It is required on every claim, paper or electronic, and it always shows the full billed amount for the services, regardless of what the payer eventually allows or pays.
How Pabau fills it
You never type the total charge by hand. A claim in Pabau starts life as an invoice issued to the insurer, and Box 28 is that invoice's insurer total: Pabau adds up the charge lines on the claim, and the result is shown in the Claim amount tile at the top of the claim.
To change the total, edit the individual charge lines — adjust a line's Charge amount (Box 24F) before validating, and the total recalculates from the charge lines. There is no separate Box 28 field to override.
On the electronic claim: the sum travels as the claim's total charge, with the balance due mirroring it — even on secondary claims, where the payer works out its own liability from the line-level detail.
NOTE: Payments you have already recorded never reduce Box 28 — it is always the full billed amount. A primary payer's payment is reported separately on secondary claims (Box 29), not subtracted from the total charge.
The amounts that make up the total live on the claim's charge lines — see Box 24 – Service Lines for every line-level field, including the diagnosis pointers that reference Box 21 – Diagnosis Codes.