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CO-13 Denial Code: Date of Death Precedes Date of Service

CO-13 means the payer has a date of death on file that falls before the date of service on the claim. Either the service date is wrong, the claim is for the wrong patient, or the payer's date of death is wrong and needs to be corrected.

Quick facts

Code
CO-13 (CARC 13)
Status
Active In use since January 1, 1995.
Code set
Claim Adjustment Reason Codes (CARC)
Group codes
  • CO (Contractual Obligation): The usual group. The provider is responsible for the denied amount while the dates or patient identity are corrected.
Official description
The date of death precedes the date of service.
X12 Claim Adjustment Reason Codes, retrieved September 25, 2026
Last verified
against the official X12 list.

What CO-13 means

CARC 13 says the date of death precedes the date of service. The payer’s system shows the patient died before the date in box 24A, so it cannot pay for care on that date. This is a data conflict, and it has three possible explanations:

  1. The date of service is wrong. A typo or a date carried over from a template.
  2. The claim is for the wrong patient. The member ID or demographics belong to someone else, often a relative with the same name.
  3. The payer’s date of death is wrong. The patient is alive, or died later than recorded.

Because a death record usually terminates coverage, CO-13 often shows up with eligibility problems on other claims for the same member.

Common causes

  • Date entry errors, such as a wrong year on a date of service.
  • Charges posted after death for services scheduled but not performed, like standing orders or recurring supplies.
  • Wrong member selected in the practice management system, for example a parent and child with the same name.
  • Incorrect death record at the payer or at the Social Security Administration.
  • Hospice or facility claims where the discharge date and date of death were recorded inconsistently.

How to fix it

  1. Verify the date of service against the medical record, scheduling, and any facility records.
  2. Confirm the patient’s identity and member ID.
  3. If the date or patient was wrong, correct it and send a corrected claim with resubmission code 7 in box 22.
  4. If the payer’s date of death is wrong, have the patient or their representative contact the payer and, where applicable, the Social Security Administration. Once corrected, request reprocessing.
  5. If the service was not performed, void the charge rather than resubmitting.
  6. Do not bill the patient or estate for a CO-13 amount.

How to prevent it

  • Run eligibility before every visit and for recurring services, so a death or termination is caught early.
  • Stop recurring orders and supply shipments when a patient’s death is reported.
  • Use two identifiers (name and date of birth) when selecting patients in your system.
  • Reconcile charges against the schedule so services not rendered are not billed.

Specialty notes

DME suppliers, home health agencies, and hospice providers see CO-13 most, because recurring services and deliveries can continue after a death is reported. Review deliveries and visit logs against the date of death before billing the final period.

Remark codes that may appear with CO-13

  • N301 (Missing/incomplete/invalid procedure date(s).): The procedure or service date is missing, incomplete, or invalid.
  • CO-14 (The date of birth follows the date of service.): The opposite data conflict: the date of birth falls after the date of service.
  • PR-27 (Expenses incurred after coverage terminated.): Coverage terminated before the service date, which often follows a reported death.
  • CO-31 (Patient cannot be identified as our insured.): The patient cannot be identified as the payer's insured.
  • CO-110 (Billing date predates service date.): Billing date predates the service date, another date sequencing error.

CO-13 FAQ

Why would a payer think the patient died?

Payers receive dates of death from sources such as enrollment updates and, for Medicare, Social Security records. Sometimes the record is for a different person with similar information, or it was entered in error.

What if the patient is alive?

Have the patient contact the payer and, if the record comes from Social Security, the Social Security Administration to correct it. Once the record is fixed, ask the payer to reprocess the claim.

What if the service was on the date of death?

Services on the date of death are generally payable. If the payer's record shows an earlier date, confirm the exact date with the facility or death certificate and ask the payer to correct it.