§ 405.503 Determining customary charges.

(a) Customary charge defined. The term “customary charges” will refer to the uniform amount which the individual physician or other person charges in the majority of cases for a specific medical procedure or service. In determining such uniform amount, token charges for charity patients and substandard charges for welfare and other low income patients are to be excluded. The reasonable charge cannot, except as provided in § 405.506, be higher than the individual physician's or other person's customary charge. The customary charge for different physicians or other persons may, of course, vary. Payment for covered services would be based on the actual charge for the service when, in a given instance, that charge is less than the amount which the carrier would otherwise have found to be within the limits of acceptable charges for the particular service. Moreover, the income of the individual beneficiary is not to be taken into account by the carrier in determining the amount which is considered to be a reasonable charge for a service rendered to him. There is no provision in the law for a carrier to evaluate the reasonableness of charges in light of an individual beneficiary's economic status.