US Medical Term · billing
Adjustment
Ajuste
In 9 languages
| Language | Term |
|---|---|
| English | Adjustment |
| Spanish (Español) | Ajuste |
| Chinese (中文) | 账单调整 |
| Korean (한국어) | 조정 |
| Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt) | Điều chỉnh |
| Filipino (Tagalog) | Pagsasaayos |
| Portuguese (Português) | Ajuste |
| Thai (ภาษาไทย) | การปรับยอด |
| Japanese (日本語) | 調整 |
What it means
An adjustment is a change made to the original amount billed on a medical claim. Adjustments reduce what you owe and can occur for several reasons: your insurer negotiated a discount with your provider (called a contractual adjustment), a billing error was corrected, you qualified for financial assistance, or a duplicate charge was removed. Adjustments appear on your Explanation of Benefits as write-offs or contractual discounts. You should never be billed the full chargemaster rate if you have insurance—the adjustment between the billed charge and the allowed amount is what your provider agreed to waive. If you see a large balance, ask the billing office to itemize all adjustments that were applied.
How to say it
Sentences a patient might use with a doctor, nurse, pharmacist, or insurer:
The billing office applied a contractual adjustment, so my balance dropped by $400.
El departamento de facturación aplicó un ajuste contractual, así que mi saldo bajó $400.
Can you explain why there is no adjustment on this bill if I have insurance?
¿Puede explicar por qué no hay ajuste en esta factura si tengo seguro?
I noticed the adjustment on my EOB does not match what was taken off my bill.
Noté que el ajuste en mi EOB no coincide con lo que se descontó de mi factura.
Where you'll see it
Related terms
Sources
Last reviewed: September 2026