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M68 Remark Code (Deactivated): Physician ID Missing

M68 meant the identification of the attending, ordering, rendering, supervising, or referring physician was missing, incomplete, or invalid. X12 deactivated it without naming a successor; each role now has its own remark, such as N253, N265, N290, N297, and N286.

X12 deactivated RARCM68 on June 2, 2005. Payers should no longer use it on new remittances, but it can still appear on older ERAs, corrected claims, and appeals.

Code: M68 (RARC M68)
Status: Deactivated StoppedJune 2, 2005 (in use since January 1, 1997).
Code set: Remittance Advice Remark Codes (RARC)
Group codes: CO (Contractual Obligation): Typically accompanied CARC 16 under CO; the provider needed to correct the physician identifier.
Official description: Missing/incomplete/invalid attending, ordering, rendering, supervising or referring physician identification.
X12 Remittance Advice Remark Codes, retrieved September 25, 2026
Last verified: September 24, 2026 against the official X12 list.

What M68 meant

A claim can name several physicians: the attending physician on a facility claim, the ordering or referring physician, the rendering physician, and a supervising physician. Remark M68 said that the identifier for one of them was absent or invalid. It was itself suggested as the replacement for the older UPIN remark M33.

What replaced it

No single successor was named. The active remarks now split the old message by role: N253 for the attending provider, N265 for ordering, N290 for rendering, N297 for supervising, and N286 for referring. Each points you straight to the field to fix.

If you still see M68

It appears only in older data. For a current identifier remark, look up the specific provider’s NPI in NPPES, confirm it is entered in the correct loop for that role, and check that ordering and referring providers are enrolled if the payer requires it.

N253 (Missing/incomplete/invalid attending provider primary identifier.): Missing, incomplete, or invalid attending provider primary identifier.
N265 (Missing/incomplete/invalid ordering provider primary identifier.): Missing, incomplete, or invalid ordering provider primary identifier.
N290 (Missing/incomplete/invalid rendering provider primary identifier.): Missing, incomplete, or invalid rendering provider primary identifier.
N297 (Missing/incomplete/invalid supervising provider primary identifier.): Missing, incomplete, or invalid supervising provider primary identifier.
N286 (Missing/incomplete/invalid referring provider primary identifier.): Missing, incomplete, or invalid referring provider primary identifier.

M68 FAQ

Why did M68 cover five provider roles?

It was written before role-specific remarks existed. Grouping them meant billers had to check every physician on the claim to find the bad identifier.

Which role is most often the problem?

It varies. Ordering and referring identifiers are common trouble spots because they belong to providers outside the billing practice.

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