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CO-81 Denial Code (Deactivated): Discharges

CO-81 reported discharges, a statistic for institutional claims rather than a reason for a payment change. X12 deactivated it and did not name a replacement code.

X12 deactivated CARC81 on October 16, 2003. Payers should no longer use it on new remittances, but it can still appear on older ERAs, corrected claims, and appeals.

Code: CO-81 (CARC 81)
Status: Deactivated StoppedOctober 16, 2003 (in use since January 1, 1995).
Code set: Claim Adjustment Reason Codes (CARC)
Group codes: CO (Contractual Obligation): Carried on institutional remittances as a statistical item, not a liability decision.
Official description: Discharges.
X12 Claim Adjustment Reason Codes, retrieved September 25, 2026
Last verified: September 24, 2026 against the official X12 list.

What CO-81 meant

CARC 81 is described officially as just “Discharges.” It belonged to a group of early codes that carried institutional statistics on the remittance, such as counts of days, visits, and discharges, rather than reasons a payment was reduced. For a hospital claim, the discharge figure was typically one per inpatient stay.

What replaced it

X12 did not name a successor, and a plain count of discharges is no longer reported with an adjustment reason. When a discharge affects payment, active codes describe the effect:

CO-232 for the institutional transfer amount when a patient is discharged to another facility.
CO-249 when the stay is identified as a readmission.
CO-A6 when a prior hospitalization or 30-day transfer requirement was not met.

If you still see CO-81

It will only appear in legacy institutional data. Treat it as information and do not post a write-off from it. If you find a CO-81 carrying a dollar amount in historical files, look for another adjustment on the same claim that explains the reduction, or record it as an unexplained variance for review.

CO-232 (Institutional Transfer Amount.): Institutional transfer amount, which relates to how discharges and transfers affect DRG payment.
CO-249 (This claim has been identified as a readmission. (Use only with Group Code CO)): The claim has been identified as a readmission.
CO-A6 (Prior hospitalization or 30 day transfer requirement not met.): Prior hospitalization or 30-day transfer requirement not met.

CO-81 FAQ

Did CO-81 affect the payment amount?

Not by itself. It conveyed a count used for statistics and reconciliation. Any change in payment would have been explained by other adjustment codes on the same claim.

Is there an active code for discharges?

No active CARC simply counts discharges. Current codes deal with the payment effect of discharge events, such as transfers or readmissions.

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