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DenialsFebruary 2026 · 6 min read

Top 10 Denial Reasons by Payer in Florida 2025

Ranked by frequency and dollar impact across Sunshine, Humana, Molina, Simply, and Florida Medicaid FFS.

Florida's Medicaid managed care market means every billing operation deals with at least 4-5 payers simultaneously, each with slightly different denial rules. Here are the most common denial reasons across Florida's major payers, ranked by frequency and net dollar impact — with the fix for each.

Across All Florida Payers

  • CO-97 — The benefit for this service is included in the payment/allowance for another service. Most common when unbundling services that payers consider part of a global episode. Fix: review payer bundling policies before coding.
  • CO-4 — The service is inconsistent with the modifier used. Fix: verify modifier requirements per payer — they differ significantly between Florida Medicaid FFS, MMC plans, and Medicare.
  • CO-50 — Non-covered service. Fix: verify the specific service is a covered benefit under the patient's plan before delivery.
  • PR-96 — Non-covered charge. Patient financial responsibility. Fix: confirm eligibility and benefit details at scheduling, not after service.

Sunshine Health (Florida's Largest MMC Plan)

  • Missing prior authorization for home health aide services — Sunshine requires auth where FFS does not
  • Claims submitted beyond 90-day timely filing window — Sunshine's window is shorter than Medicare
  • Service code not covered under the recipient's specific plan — Sunshine has multiple products (Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, CHIP) with different benefits

Humana Medicaid Florida

  • 90-day timely filing — same as Sunshine, aggressive compared to Medicare's 12-month window
  • Rendering provider not in the Humana Florida Medicaid network — NPI enrollment must be current
  • Authorization expired or units exceeded — Humana's auth tracking is strict; claims that exceed authorized units deny automatically

Molina Healthcare Florida

  • Telehealth modifier requirements — Molina has specific modifier rules that differ from CMS guidance; GT and 95 are not interchangeable for all service types
  • Missing coordination of benefits information for dual-eligible patients
  • Service not authorized under specific waiver program — Molina administers multiple Florida waiver programs with different covered services

Florida Medicaid FFS

  • EVV data not confirmed in Sandata before claim submission — the single largest source of home health claim rejections in Florida Medicaid FFS
  • Provider enrollment not current — NPI, taxonomy, and Medicaid provider ID must all match
  • Duplicate claim — FFS systems flag duplicates aggressively; re-submissions require specific claim adjustment reason codes

Leymax maintains a current payer rule library for all Florida MMC plans and Medicaid FFS. Our pre-submission claim scrubbing catches payer-specific denial triggers before they reach the clearinghouse.

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