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The Printing Rules for the CMS 1500

If you're filling out a Medicare claim form CMS 1500, it's important to stick to the rules regarding the printing of the form, otherwise the claim form may not be accepted. There are clearly stated guidelines for the printing of the CMS 1500 form, which have been approved by the National Uniform Claims Committee.

  1. Type

    • The CMS 1500 is suited to 10-pitch Pica type, which basically means that 10 characters can be displayed per horizontal inch on the page. The text will be aligned into the print file matrix so that it fits within the fields. Choose a font size of 10 or 12 and a standard type, such as "Courier," for best results.

    Margins

    • The top margin of the form is 1.33 inches (Y offset). This is the distance from the very top edge of the paper to the highest position in which print can be displayed. From the left edge, it is 0.3 inches to the closest printing position (X offset). On the back, there should be a 0.25-inch head, foot, left and right margin. Between sheets, there shouldn't be a variation on the X and Y offset for margins of more than 0.1 inch.

    Color

    • The CMS 1500 must be printed in OCR red ink, such as Flint J-6983, or a suitable match. This ink is also referred to as "Drop-Red-Ink" and was previously known as Sinclair Valentine. The color can't be contaminated, and the ink cartridge shouldn't be old. Older ink cartridges may produce a lighter printing on the form, and such forms may not be accepted because they have to be scanned. Light printing may not appear visibly when scanned.

    Paper Size

    • The CMS 1500 form should be printed on 8.5-by-11 inch paper. There is little room for variation here; the paper must be within 0.06 inches of the specifications. This paper size is widely available, but is slightly smaller than the more common A4 size.

    Other Rules

    • Aside from the rules mentioned above, the CMS 1500 also has a few additional rules for printing. All of the characters written on the form must be in upper case, and all of the information must be contained within the designated box. No part of the form can be handwritten, and the fields must not contain special characters like slashes, decimal points, dollar signs or parentheses. All multiple page claims must be stapled together when they are submitted.

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