Skip to main content

N260 Remark Code: Billing Provider Contact Info

N260 means the contact information for the billing provider or supplier, such as the contact name, phone number, or other communication detail, was missing, incomplete, or invalid. The payer wants a working way to reach the billing office about the claim.

Quick facts

Code
N260 (RARC N260)
Status
Active In use since December 2, 2004.
Code set
Remittance Advice Remark Codes (RARC)
Group codes
  • CO (Contractual Obligation): A correctable submission issue. Add or fix the contact details and resubmit; the patient is not responsible.
Official description
Missing/incomplete/invalid billing provider/supplier contact information.
X12 Remittance Advice Remark Codes, retrieved September 25, 2026
Last verified
against the official X12 list.

What N260 means

Payers sometimes need to call or write to the billing office about a claim: to request records, to clarify a charge, or to confirm who submitted it. For that reason claims carry contact details for the billing provider. N260 says those details were absent or unusable.

The remark normally comes with CARC 16. It does not question the service or the patient’s eligibility; it points to a gap in the administrative data.

Common causes

  • The phone number field in box 33 (or its electronic equivalent) was blank.
  • The number was formatted with extra characters, an extension crammed into the main field, or too few digits.
  • A billing system upgrade or new clearinghouse connection stopped sending the contact name or communication number.
  • The contact number pointed to a disconnected line after an office move or a change of billing company.
  • A payer-specific rule requires a contact name as well as a number, and only the number was sent.

What to do

  1. Look at the claim as the payer received it, not just the screen in your system; the clearinghouse report shows what was transmitted.
  2. Enter a current, direct phone number for the billing office in the billing provider setup, digits only, with any extension in its own field if supported.
  3. Add a contact name if the payer requires one.
  4. Send a corrected claim with frequency code 7 and the original claim reference, or follow the payer’s instructions if it treats the first claim as never received.

How to prevent it

Make contact details part of the billing provider profile, not something typed per claim. After changing clearinghouses or practice management software, send a small test batch and read the 837 output to confirm contact fields are populated. If you outsource billing, agree on whose number goes on the claim so calls reach someone who can answer them.

For more on reading remarks like this alongside the reason code, see how CARC and RARC codes work together.

Codes that may appear with N260

  • CO-16 (Claim/service lacks information or has submission/billing error(s).): Missing or invalid claim information; N260 specifies the billing provider contact data.
  • N258 (Missing/incomplete/invalid billing provider/supplier address.): Concerns the billing provider's address rather than phone or contact name.
  • N256 (Missing/incomplete/invalid billing provider/supplier name.): Concerns the billing provider's name.
  • N268 (Missing/incomplete/invalid ordering provider contact information.): The same contact-information problem for the ordering provider.

N260 FAQ

Where does the billing phone number go?

On the CMS-1500 it goes in the phone area of box 33; on the UB-04 it is part of form locator 1. Electronic claims carry a billing contact name and phone or email in the contact fields.

Is N260 common?

It is less common than NPI or address remarks, because most systems fill contact data automatically. It tends to surface after a system change or with payers that enforce contact fields strictly.

Do I need to resubmit just to add a phone number?

If the payer denied the claim with N260, yes. The payer will not reopen it on its own; send a corrected claim or follow its reopening process.