Medicare Part B Excess Charges? 
`` Excess Charges '' only occur with Part B coverage . Whether or not a Medicare Beneficiary may be subjected to Part B Excess Charges by a provider depends entirely on how the provider is contracted with Medicare . When the provider choose their method of contracting with Medicare they must choose whether they will be `` Participating '' or `` Non-Participating '' . This terminology may be confusing but it really is not . `` Participating '' simply means the provider will accept the Medicare assignment of the Medicare approved amount as payment as total payment -LRB- Medicare 's part -RRB- for services rendered . `` Non-Participating '' means the provider has chosen to not necessarily accept the Medicare approved amount as total payment -LRB- Medicare 's part -RRB- for services rendered and may choose to charge the beneficiary up to 15 % of the Medicare approved amount -LRB- in addition to the beneficiary 's cost sharing amount -RRB- . The provider may choose on a case-by-case basis whether to seek excess charges from the beneficiary . This rule applies ONLY to physician fee schedules thus applies only to Medicare Part B charges . So it depends entirely upon whether the provider has chosen to contract as a `` Participating '' or `` Non-Participating '' provider with Medicare . If you are in doubt it may be beneficial to contact the office manager at your provider 's office and ask whether the provider is `` Participating '' or `` Non-Participating '' as it applies to Medicare approved payments . All the best . Mark 