The Type of Bill in Form Locator 4 of a UB-04 is a four-digit code: after a leading zero, the digits name the facility, the type of care and the bill's place in the stay, so 0111 means a hospital inpatient (Part A) claim covering admission through discharge.
By the VerifyDoc team
This guide decodes each digit using CMS's own definitions, explains what interim, late-charge, replacement and void codes tell you, and shows how to use the code to catch a bill that doesn't match the care you actually got.
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Check my bill — free preview →Where do I find the Type of Bill code on my hospital bill?
It's in box 4, labeled "Type of Bill," in the upper right of the UB-04 claim form (the paper version is also called the CMS-1450). Hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies and other institutional providers use this form, so it's what sits behind most facility charges. The summary statement a hospital mails you usually doesn't show it, which is why you often have to ask.
Ask the billing office for a copy of the UB-04 or the claim data they sent your insurer, along with the itemized bill. If you want help reading the line items once you have them, our guide to reading your itemized hospital bill line by line walks through each column. If the office drags its feet on records, the HIPAA right of access in 45 CFR § 164.524 requires a covered entity to act on a request no later than 30 days after receiving it, with one extension of up to 30 more days if it tells you in writing why.
What does each digit of the Type of Bill code mean?
Each digit answers a different question. In the words of CMS's Medicare Claims Processing Manual, Chapter 25, the code "gives three specific pieces of information after a leading zero." CMS ignores that leading zero. The second digit identifies the type of facility, the third classifies the type of care, and the fourth "indicates the sequence of this bill in this particular episode of care," which CMS calls the frequency code.
The manual itself no longer lists the code values: it says they are available from Medicare contractors and from the NUBC's Official UB-04 Data Specifications Manual. The table below uses the values published by Medicare contractor Noridian. It covers the values a hospital patient is most likely to see; clinics and special facilities (hospice, ambulatory surgery, critical access hospitals) use a different list for the third digit.
| Position | What it tells you | Common values |
|---|---|---|
| 1st digit | Leading zero (ignored by Medicare) | 0 |
| 2nd digit | Type of facility | 1 = Hospital; 2 = Skilled nursing; 3 = Home health; 7 = Clinic or hospital-based renal dialysis facility; 8 = Special facility or hospital ASC surgery |
| 3rd digit | Bill classification (hospitals and SNFs) | 1 = Inpatient (Part A); 2 = Inpatient (Part B); 3 = Outpatient; 4 = Other (Part B); 8 = Swing bed |
| 4th digit | Frequency: where this bill sits in your episode of care | 0 = Nonpayment/zero claim; 1 = Admit through discharge; 2 = Interim, first claim; 3 = Interim, continuing; 4 = Interim, last claim; 5 = Late charge(s) only; 7 = Replacement of prior claim; 8 = Void/cancel of prior claim |
Put together, 0111 reads "hospital, inpatient Part A, admit through discharge": one bill for your whole stay. A hospital outpatient bill starts 013, and a skilled nursing inpatient bill starts 021.
How can the Type of Bill code show that my bill is wrong?
The code is a quick check on whether the claim describes the care you actually received. The third digit is the big one: if you were never formally admitted, an inpatient code (011x) doesn't fit, and if you were admitted, an outpatient code (013x) doesn't either. Medicare treats observation stays as outpatient care even when you spend the night in a hospital bed, so if staff told you that you were "under observation," the claim should match that.
That distinction isn't trivia. Inpatient and outpatient claims are paid under different rules and can leave you with different cost-sharing, so a misclassified claim can change what your insurer pays and what you owe. Ask the hospital which status your stay was billed under and compare it with your discharge paperwork and your Explanation of Benefits.
The code also explains some surprise second bills. Physicians bill on a different claim form, so if a clinic visit produces a UB-04 with a hospital outpatient code (013x) as well as the doctor's own bill, the clinic is billing as a hospital department. We explain that pattern in why one visit can send two bills.
What do interim, late-charge, replacement and void codes mean for what I owe?
The fourth digit tells you whether this bill stands alone or is one piece of a series, and that's where double billing hides. Read it before you pay.
| Last digit | CMS meaning | What to check before you pay |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | One bill for the entire confinement | Dates of admission and discharge match your stay; no second bill for the same dates. |
| 2, 3, 4 | First, continuing and last bills in a series for one stay | Line up every bill by date range. Each day should appear on only one of them. |
| 5 | Late charges only: the bill contains only additional charges | None of these charges should already appear on the original bill. |
| 7 | Replacement: corrects a previously submitted bill | The replacement supersedes the original. Don't pay both, and look for a new EOB. |
| 8 | Void/cancel of a prior claim | Any balance tied to the cancelled claim shouldn't be billed to you as-is. |
| 0 | Provider doesn't expect payment from the payer for this bill | Ask why. A zero-pay claim shouldn't by itself create a balance for you. |
A frequency 5 bill contains only additional charges, so a late-charge bill that repeats items you were already billed for is a red flag. For Medicare, a hospital usually can't send one at all: according to Medicare contractor Noridian, late inpatient accommodation charges, late inpatient hospital or SNF ancillaries paid under PPS, and late charges for same-day services paid under the outpatient PPS must be sent as a replacement claim (xx7), not as a late-charge-only bill. So a Medicare hospital bill ending in 5 is worth a question to the billing office. The same logic applies to replacement claims: a corrected claim (xx7) replaces the earlier one rather than adding to it. If you see the same service on two bills, our guide to disputing phantom and duplicate charges covers how to raise it in writing.
Interim codes come up mostly on long stays. Medicare's type-of-bill list marks the continuing (113) and last (114) inpatient interim codes "not valid for PPS bills," meaning hospitals paid under Medicare's inpatient prospective payment system can't use them, so seeing them on a regular acute-care stay is worth a question to the billing office.
Can a hospital send a corrected or late bill months after my stay?
Yes, within limits. For Medicare, 42 CFR § 424.44 requires a claim to be filed no later than the close of the period ending 1 calendar year after the date of service, subject to the exceptions listed in that section. A replacement or late-charge claim still has to fit the payer's filing rules, and private plans set their own limits in the provider contract.
When a provider misses that window, the cost generally isn't yours to absorb just because the claim was late. We cover how that works, and what to say to the billing office, in timely filing limits and late claims. If you're comparing a late bill to the original, line up the Type of Bill codes and the statement-covers-period dates first; they tell you whether the new bill replaces, adds to or duplicates the old one.
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Check my bill — free preview →Frequently asked questions
What does Type of Bill 0111 mean?
It means a hospital (1), inpatient Part A (1), admit-through-discharge (1) claim, with the leading zero that Medicare ignores. In plain terms, it's one bill covering your whole inpatient stay. If you have a second bill with 0111 for the same dates, ask the hospital why two complete-stay claims exist.
Why does my bill say 0137 instead of 0131?
The last digit 7 means "replacement of prior claim": the hospital corrected an outpatient claim it had already sent. The replacement should supersede the original, not add to it. Check your insurer's Explanation of Benefits for the reprocessed claim and make sure you aren't paying a balance from the old version.
Is a late-charge bill (ending in 5) legitimate?
It can be, though less often for Medicare. A frequency 5 bill contains only additional charges that weren't on the original claim, and Medicare generally requires hospitals to send late inpatient charges, and late charges for same-day outpatient PPS services, as a replacement claim (xx7) instead. Compare any late bill line by line with your first bill and itemized statement. Any charge that appears on both is a duplicate you can dispute in writing.
How do I get the hospital to show me the Type of Bill code?
Ask the billing office for a copy of the UB-04 or the claim data sent to your insurer, plus an itemized bill. You can also request your records under the HIPAA right of access in 45 CFR § 164.524. The provider must act on that request within 30 days of receiving it, with one extension of up to 30 more days if it explains the delay in writing.