Box 13 on the CMS-1500 form is for the patient’s authorization telling the insurance company to pay direct to your office. There are 3 selections to choose from: Digitized, On File, or Original.
•Digitized should not be selected, because the system does not yet save the patient’s signature in a format that would allow you to imprint it on the CMS-1500 form. All clients will be advised when this feature becomes functional.
•On File is the most commonly used selection. The phrase “signature on file” or the initials “SOF” will appear in box 13 of the CMS-1500 form. This means that you have the patient’s signature on an authorization document that you keep in either a paper file or in a document that has been scanned into the patient’s electronic file. Note that is some states this must be on paper while in other states the electronic copy is considered to be as valid as the paper one. Verify the legal requirement in your state. On demand, you can copy the authorization and send the copy to the insurance carrier. Life Systems Software recommends that the completed authorization form be scanned into the patient’s file, even if you are required to save the original paper form, so that if it is ever needed, it can be printed or emailed without having to hunt for it.
•Original requires that the patient actually signs each CMS-1500 form that you print.