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N256 Remark Code: Billing Provider Name Invalid

N256 means the name of the billing provider or supplier on the claim was missing, incomplete, or invalid. The payer could not match the submitted organization or individual name to the billing NPI and tax ID it has on file.

Quick facts

Code
N256 (RARC N256)
Status
Active In use since December 2, 2004.
Code set
Remittance Advice Remark Codes (RARC)
Group codes
  • CO (Contractual Obligation): The claim was adjusted for a correctable billing error. The provider fixes the name and resubmits; the patient owes nothing for this line.
Official description
Missing/incomplete/invalid billing provider/supplier name.
X12 Remittance Advice Remark Codes, retrieved September 25, 2026
Last verified
against the official X12 list.

What N256 means

The billing provider is the entity that submits the claim and is legally owed payment. Payers cross-check its name, NPI, and taxpayer identification number as a set. N256 says the name part of that set was not usable: blank, cut off, or different from what the payer has recorded.

It is typically attached to CARC 16, meaning the claim was stopped for a submission error. Nothing about the service or the patient’s coverage has been decided.

Common causes

  • Recent rename or merger. The practice changed its legal name or was acquired, and the claims now carry a name the payer hasn’t loaded.
  • DBA versus legal name. The claim shows a trade name while enrollment lists the corporate name, or the reverse.
  • Truncation. A long name was cut off by a field limit in the billing system or clearinghouse, so it no longer matches.
  • Sole proprietor formatting. An individual billing under their own NPI had the name split incorrectly between last and first name fields, or entered as an organization.
  • Wrong entity. A location billing under a parent company’s tax ID used the location name instead of the enrolled entity.

How to fix it

  1. Pull your enrollment record or the payer’s provider portal to see the exact billing name on file.
  2. Check NPPES for the name tied to the billing NPI.
  3. Align the name on the claim with the payer record. If the payer’s record is the outdated one, submit a change of information to the payer; resubmitting alone will not help.
  4. Send a corrected claim with frequency code 7 and the original claim number once the name is consistent.

How to prevent it

When your organization changes its name, ownership, or tax ID, treat it as a project: update NPPES, notify every payer, and hold claims for affected payers until each confirms the change. Our article on provider enrollment denials walks through that sequence. After a change, watch remits for N256 by payer so you know which files are still stale.

Codes that may appear with N256

  • CO-16 (Claim/service lacks information or has submission/billing error(s).): Claim lacks information or has a submission error; N256 names the billing provider name.
  • CO-208 (National Provider Identifier - Not matched.): Can accompany N256 when the name and NPI combination does not match payer records.
  • N257 (Missing/incomplete/invalid billing provider/supplier primary identifier.): Concerns the billing provider's NPI rather than its name.
  • N258 (Missing/incomplete/invalid billing provider/supplier address.): Concerns the billing provider's address.
  • N279 (Missing/incomplete/invalid pay-to provider name.): Concerns the pay-to provider name, used when payment goes to a different entity or address.

N256 FAQ

Should the billing name be our legal name or our 'doing business as' name?

Use the name the payer has on file with your billing NPI and tax ID, which is usually the legal business name from enrollment. If the payer enrolled you under a DBA, match that.

Where does the billing provider name go?

Box 33 on the CMS-1500, form locator 1 on the UB-04, and the billing provider name fields of the 837.

We just changed our business name. Is that why?

Quite possibly. Update NPPES and notify each payer of the change; until the payer's file reflects the new name, claims may keep failing the match.