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CO-239 Denial Code: Rebill Split Coverage Periods

CO-239 means the claim spans eligible and ineligible periods of coverage, and the payer wants you to rebill separate claims. It usually will not pay any part of the claim until you split the dates at the coverage boundary.

Quick facts

Code
CO-239 (CARC 239)
Status
Active In use since March 1, 2012; last modified January 29, 2012.
Code set
Claim Adjustment Reason Codes (CARC)
Group codes
  • CO (Contractual Obligation): The claim is returned for the provider to rebill. The amount is not a patient balance at this stage.
Official description
Claim spans eligible and ineligible periods of coverage. Rebill separate claims.
X12 Claim Adjustment Reason Codes, retrieved September 25, 2026
Last verified
against the official X12 list.

What CO-239 means

CARC 239 says the claim spans eligible and ineligible periods of coverage. Rebill separate claims. The payer noticed the from and through dates cross a coverage boundary, and instead of paying the covered portion (as it would with CARC 238), it sends the claim back for you to split.

This is essentially a formatting instruction. Nothing is wrong with the services; they are just grouped on one claim in a way the payer cannot adjudicate. Payers that cannot pay partial periods on a single claim, or that must route each period to a different plan or program, commonly use CARC 239.

Example: a monthly DME rental is billed from the 15th to the 14th of the next month, but the patient’s coverage started on the 1st. The payer wants one claim for the dates before the 1st (which it will not cover) and another from the 1st onward.

Common causes

  • Coverage start or end date falls inside the billed date range.
  • Plan or product change mid-period, such as moving from one managed care plan to another.
  • Institutional claims with admission before coverage and discharge after it.
  • Recurring billing cycles that don’t line up with calendar months when coverage changes.

How to fix it

  1. Confirm exact coverage dates with the payer’s eligibility response.
  2. Split the claim at the boundary: one claim for dates within coverage and another for the rest. Adjust units and charges for each claim to match its dates.
  3. Send the covered claim to this payer as a new claim. Follow payer instructions on whether to reference the original claim.
  4. Route the uncovered dates to the correct payer (new plan, prior plan, Medicaid) or, if none, to the patient per your policy.
  5. Watch timely filing, since the new claims must still meet each payer’s deadlines.

How to prevent it

  • Check eligibility for the entire billing range, not only the start date.
  • Configure your billing system to split periods automatically when eligibility dates fall inside them.
  • Recheck coverage monthly for recurring services like rentals, home health, and long stays.
  • Ask patients about upcoming plan changes at each visit.

See claim rejection vs denial for how to handle claims a payer sends back for correction rather than denying outright.

Remark codes that may appear with CO-239

  • N61 (Rebill services on separate claims.): Tells you to rebill the services on separate claims.
  • N30 (Patient ineligible for this service.): The patient was ineligible for part of the period billed.
  • N62 (Dates of service span multiple rate periods.): Dates of service span multiple rate periods, another reason a payer may want separate claims.
  • PR-238 (Claim spans eligible and ineligible periods of coverage, this is the reduction for the ineligible period. (Use only with Group Code PR)): The payer reduced the claim for the ineligible period instead of asking for separate claims.
  • PR-27 (Expenses incurred after coverage terminated.): The entire service was after coverage ended.
  • PR-26 (Expenses incurred prior to coverage.): The entire service was before coverage started.
  • CO-16 (Claim/service lacks information or has submission/billing error(s).): General missing or invalid claim information.

CO-239 FAQ

How do I split a claim for CO-239?

Create one claim with the dates inside the coverage period and a separate claim for dates outside it. Send the covered claim to this payer and the other to whichever payer, or the patient, is responsible for those dates.

Is CO-239 an appeal situation?

No. It is a billing correction. Submit new, correctly split claims instead of appealing.

Can I bill the patient for CO-239?

Not the full amount. Only the portion outside coverage may become the patient's responsibility after you split the claim and confirm no other coverage applies.

Will the payer reprocess the original claim after I split it?

Usually not. With CO-239 the original claim is closed, and the payer expects new, separate claims for each period. Follow the payer's instructions on whether to reference the original claim number.