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MA32 Remark Code: Invalid Number of Covered Days

MA32 means the number of covered days during the billing period is missing, incomplete, or invalid. The payer uses covered days to track benefit usage, so it cannot process the institutional claim until the count is correct.

Quick facts

Code
MA32 (RARC MA32)
Status
Active In use since January 1, 1997; last modified February 28, 2003.
Code set
Remittance Advice Remark Codes (RARC)
Group codes
  • CO (Contractual Obligation): The facility must correct the day count. The patient is not billed because of a reporting error.
Official description
Missing/incomplete/invalid number of covered days during the billing period.
X12 Remittance Advice Remark Codes, retrieved September 25, 2026
Last verified
against the official X12 list.

What MA32 means

Inpatient and skilled nursing claims under Medicare Part A report how many days in the billing period are covered. Those days are subtracted from the patient’s benefit, so accuracy matters for both the current claim and the patient’s future coverage. MA32 says the covered day count was missing or could not be accepted.

The count must be consistent with the statement period, room and board units, and any non-covered days on the same claim.

Common causes

  • The covered days value code was omitted.
  • The count exceeds the days in the statement period.
  • The discharge day was counted as a covered day.
  • Covered plus non-covered days do not add up to the accommodation units billed.
  • An interim claim repeated days already billed on the previous interim claim.

How to fix it

  1. Recount the days using admission, discharge, and leave dates.
  2. Check value code reporting in form locators 39 to 41, or the value information segment on the 837I.
  3. Reconcile with room and board units and any non-covered days.
  4. Resubmit the corrected claim, using the replacement frequency code if the claim was already processed.

How to prevent it

Let your billing system calculate day counts from the patient’s census data rather than typing them. Day-count problems often travel together with other header errors; review them in groups as described in CARC and RARC denial analysis.

Codes that may appear with MA32

  • CO-16 (Claim/service lacks information or has submission/billing error(s).): Claim information is missing or invalid, with MA32 naming the covered days field.
  • MA33 (Missing/incomplete/invalid non-covered days during the billing period.): Non-covered days are missing or invalid.
  • MA34 (Missing/incomplete/invalid number of coinsurance days during the billing period.): Coinsurance days are missing or invalid.
  • MA35 (Missing/incomplete/invalid number of lifetime reserve days.): Lifetime reserve days are missing or invalid.
  • MA31 (Missing/incomplete/invalid beginning and ending dates of the period billed.): The statement period dates, which set the upper limit on the day count, are invalid.

MA32 FAQ

How are covered days reported?

On the UB-04 they are reported as a value code with the number of days in the value code fields, form locators 39 to 41. Medicare uses value code 80 for covered days.

How do I count covered days?

Generally, the day of admission counts and the day of discharge does not. Days the payer does not cover, such as certain leave days, are reported separately as non-covered days.

Does the count need to match accommodation units?

Payers commonly check that covered and non-covered days reconcile with the accommodation revenue code units and the statement period. Mismatches are a frequent cause of MA32.