Several hospitals have reported an issue with the left margin when printing a UB04 to a laser printer   Due to the fact that MEDITECH's form, written to CMS specifications, already has an internal left margin of 0, MEDITECH cannot correct this issue via a program change.  As a result, MEDITECH reported the issue to the NUBC.   Please refer to the following web page for the NUBC's response:

http://www.nubc.org/UB-04_Printing_Requirements.pdf

The NUBC is essentially stating that the UB04 can only be aligned when printed to an "edge-to-edge" laser printer, or to a dot matrix printer. MEDITECH has actively been pursuing workarounds for this issue and these are noted below.  Please note that this issue should have no affect on forms that are sent to a clearinghouse via "print image download" as the clearinghouse just references the internal specifications of the form to locate the positioning of the text.  The issue is just with forms that are printed to a laser printer.

The following are some workarounds that have provided to us by various hospitals:

1) The vendor FormFast has a software solution that should assist in aligning the form. If you are already using FormFast and need assistance, or if you would like to explore this solution, please contact FormFast at 1-800-218-3512.

2) There is a company on the internet, Access, that is saying that its product can be used to generate the UB04 and at least one hospital has confirmed that it can align the form. Their website is www.accesseforms.com.

3) We've heard from some hospitals that have successfully altered the internal settings of certain printer models and in conjunction with the ELF dictionary, have successfully aligned the UB04. These printer models are listed below, along with the suggested changes and ELF settings given to us by these hospitals

Model HP4250:

1) On the printer menu, find the Edge to Edge Override - it will default to N, so change it to Y,

2) Choose an X-dimension of 8.5 (this would be the width of the paper),

3) This should provide the option to alter the X1 (left margin) and Y (right margin) axes.  Start with the settings of -13 and +3 respectively, but be prepared to alter these numbers a little (e.g., one hosp ended up using -12 and +4),

4) If the paper needs to be moved up or down, that would involve the Y-dimension.  MEDITECH has not been told that this is an issue, so there are no suggested settings,

Here are the suggested ELF settings for the HP4250:

Report BAR.PAT.frm.ub04

CPI 10.05

Left Margin 0.20

LPI 6

Top Margin 0.095

Model HP4240:

1) On the menu, under the print quality sub menu, look in the set registration option

2) This contains the X and Y adjustments per tray

3) Refer to step 3 above for the possible X and Y axis settings to use

Here are the suggested ELF settings for the HP4240:

Report BAR.PAT.frm.ub04

CPI 10.05

Left Margin 0.20 inches

LPI 6.00

Top Margin 0.095 inches

Model HP4200N:

1) Click "check mark" button

2) Select Configure Device

3) Select Print Quality

4) Select Set Registration

5) Select Adjust Tray (1 or 2 whichever tray you have the claims)

6) Use the X shift and Y shift to change the settings. Try X shift = - 6 and Y shift = + 6. The X moves margins left and right and the Y moves margins up and down.

ELF settings:

Report BAR.PAT.frm.ub04

CPI 10.08

Left Margin 0.20 inches

LPI 6

Top Margin 0.15 inches

4) Some hospitals have indicated that the clearinghouse to which they submit print image downloaded claims may be able to provide paper claims that are aligned. This has not been confirmed, so please check with your clearinghouse to see if this is an option.