Skip to content
MegAligna

Product

Scheduling Clinical notes Intake Patient portal Billing Reporting

ABA

ABA therapy software ABA scheduling ABA data collection Supervision calculator

Compare

All comparisons CentralReach alternative CentralReach vs Rethink Office Puzzle vs CentralReach Noteable vs CentralReach CentralReach pricing Office Puzzle vs Aloha ABA Motivity alternative Office Puzzle vs ABA Matrix Office Puzzle vs Motivity Office Puzzle vs Rethink Raven alternative TherapyNotes alternative SimplePractice alternative Jane alternative WebPT alternative Apollo PT pricing MWTherapy pricing ChiroTouch alternative Genesis Chiropractic Platinum Chiropractic

Switch

Migrating your data From CentralReach From Motivity From Raven From TherapyNotes From SimplePractice From Jane From WebPT

Free tools

All free tools All guides All templates 8-minute rule calculator Superbill generator The 8-minute rule Superbill vs CMS-1500 CMS-1500 field guide Superbill template Patient intake form ABA session note SOAP, DAP and BIRP notes Authorization tracker
Pricing
About Contact
Start free trial

Free tool

8-minute rule calculator: Medicare vs rule of eights

Medicare's 8-minute rule converts timed therapy minutes into billable units: total the timed minutes, divide by 15, and bill one more unit only if the remainder is 8 or more. The AMA rule of eights counts each service separately instead. Enter minutes per code below to see both results side by side.

Start free trial See pricing

Timed codes only — untimed codes bill one unit regardless and are excluded from both calculations. Which rule applies is set by the payer, not chosen by the practice.

How the two timed-unit rules differ

Medicare’s 8-minute rule aggregates: add up all timed minutes for the visit, divide by 15 for whole units, and grant one more unit if the remainder is at least 8. Forty minutes of treatment is 2 units plus a 10-minute remainder — 3 units total, however the minutes were split across codes.

The AMA rule of eights (the midpoint rule) never aggregates: each timed service earns its own units from its own minutes, with the same 15-and-remainder arithmetic per code. Three services of 10 minutes each are 3 units under the AMA rule — but 30 total minutes is only 2 units under Medicare’s. The same visit, documented identically, bills differently under the two rules; which one applies is set by the payer contract.

For the worked examples, what does not count toward the timed total, and the errors that quietly cost units, see the 8-minute rule explained.

How units are calculated inside the software

The calculator above works from minutes you type in. In MegAligna the minutes come from the daily note, the rule comes from that payer’s configuration, and the resulting units land on the charge without anyone re-deriving them.

The distinction matters at volume: checking one visit by hand is quick, and checking thirty a day is where the transcription errors start.

Common questions

Why is 8 minutes the threshold?
Eight minutes is the midpoint of a 15-minute unit, rounded up. Both rules descend from the same idea — bill a unit once you pass its midpoint — and diverge only on whether minutes pool across services before the arithmetic runs.
Do untimed codes count toward the minutes?
No. Untimed codes — evaluations, unattended modalities — bill one unit regardless of duration and never enter the timed-minute total. Mixing them in is a common spreadsheet error that inflates units.
Which rule do commercial payers follow?
It is contract-specific. Some commercial payers adopt Medicare's aggregate rule, others the AMA per-service rule, and the same insurer can differ by plan. The only defensible practice is confirming per contract and configuring per payer.

Try it end to end with test data

14 days, no card required. Use made-up patients while you evaluate — real patient information waits until a business associate agreement is in place.

Start a 14-day free trial See PT billing