Time limitations to submit medical bills and requests for reimbursement of medical bills

OWCP's regulations (5CFR§10.803) provide that a medical bill, medical reimbursement request, or travel voucher must be submitted on an approved form and in a timely manner. Such bills will not be paid for expenses incurred if the bill is submitted more than one year beyond the end of the calendar year in which the expense was incurred or the service or supply was provided, or more than one year beyond the end of the calendar year in which the claim was first accepted as compensable by OWCP, whichever is later. Note that OWCP's bill processing software does not take into account the last portion of the above rule. Therefore, under the circumstances of a claim that was not approved right away, the time for submitting bills is extended to December 31 of the year following the year in which approval of your case or the relevant medical condition occurred. When such bills are routinely denied under these circumstances, you will need to follow up with your OWCP claims examiner and request that a "thread" be sent to the medical bill processor indicating that the bill was not untimely.