FB, WO, CS, and L6 Electronic Remittance Advice Adjustments

You may notice "WO," "FB," "CS," and "L6" noted on your ERAs. Below is an explanation of the difference between the notations. As these notations may vary from payer to payer, you should contact the payer directly if you have any questions about a specific remittance advice.

WO – Overpayment Recovery: Used to recover previous overpayments. A reference number (the original claim number) will be noted for tracking purposes. The WO amount is subtracted from the check amount. This represents money that insurance has actually taken back due to another claim (if there was no WO amount, the check $ amount would have been higher). For example, a notation of WO $100 indicates $100 was recovered (recouped) from the check for a previous overpayment.

FB – Forward Balance: Reflects the difference in the payment between the original claim and the overpayment/adjustment to the original claim. An FB will be on a remittance advice any time a claim has been overpaid or adjusted as a notice of that overpayment/adjustment. The FB will reflect a negative amount when the adjustment shows a corrected payment of less than the original claim payment (overpayment). This amount does not reflect a withholding on the claim. Providers should receive a letter from insurance requesting this amount be refunded with instructions for how to do so. If the refund is not received within a certain time frame (depending on the payer), the amount will be reflected as a “WO” on a future remittance. For example, a notation of FB -$50 indicates a refund of $50 is owed and, should the office not refund $50 to insurance, $50 will appear as a positive WO adjustment on a future remit. The FB will reflect a positive amount when the adjustment shows a corrected payment of more than the original claim payment. A notation of FB $50 indicates insurance has adjusted their original claim payment and will be paying the provider $50 more.

CS – Adjustment: Used to report a reissued payment amount, usually for a lost check. A CS adjustment can also be used by insurance to reduce an FB balance if they write off an amount the provider owes or to reduce an FB balance when the overpayment amount has been reduced (in the event of claims reprocessing). The amount being paid to the provider is reported as a negative value on the ERA and adds to the check total. For example, a notation of CS -$100 indicates a $100 payment to the provider.

L6 – Interest Owed: Used to report interest paid on claims. The amount of interest paid is reported as a negative amount and adds to the check total. For example, a notation of L6 -$5 indicates a $5 payment to the provider.