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N272 Remark Code: Other Payer Attending Provider ID

N272 means the identifier that another payer (usually the primary) uses for the attending provider was missing, incomplete, or invalid. It appears on coordination of benefits claims where the payer wants the attending provider's ID as the prior payer knew it.

Quick facts

Code
N272 (RARC N272)
Status
Active In use since December 2, 2004.
Code set
Remittance Advice Remark Codes (RARC)
Group codes
  • CO (Contractual Obligation): A correctable COB data issue for the facility; the patient is not liable for the adjustment.
  • OA (Other Adjustment): Some payers report missing prior-payer data as an other adjustment while they wait for the corrected COB information.
Official description
Missing/incomplete/invalid other payer attending provider identifier.
X12 Remittance Advice Remark Codes, retrieved September 25, 2026
Last verified
against the official X12 list.

What N272 means

On a secondary or tertiary institutional claim, the 837I carries a block of information about each payer that processed the claim before. Within that block, you can report how the prior payer identified certain providers, including the attending physician. N272 says the secondary payer needed that other-payer attending identifier and it was missing or unusable.

Think of it as a coordination of benefits (COB) data problem, not a question about the attending physician’s credentials. It usually comes with CARC 16 and sometimes CARC 22.

Common causes

  • The primary payer assigned the attending physician a proprietary number, and the secondary claim did not carry it.
  • The COB claim was built by hand, and the other-payer provider fields were skipped.
  • The value sent was the NPI, when the secondary payer expected the prior payer’s own identifier (or the reverse).
  • The identifier was reported without a qualifier, or under the wrong qualifier.

What to do

  1. Pull the primary payer’s remittance for the same claim. Note how it identified the attending provider.
  2. Read the secondary payer’s companion guide on other-payer provider identifiers to learn when it requires them and what format to use.
  3. Enter the prior payer’s attending identifier in the other-payer section of the claim.
  4. Confirm the rest of the COB data (paid amounts and adjustments) is also complete, then send a replacement claim with frequency code 7.

For more on building clean secondary claims, see our eligibility and COB denials guide.

How to prevent it

Let your system build secondary claims from posted primary ERAs whenever possible, including the other-payer provider identifiers, rather than keying COB data manually. If a particular primary payer uses proprietary provider numbers, store them in the provider master so they flow to secondary claims.

Codes that may appear with N272

  • CO-16 (Claim/service lacks information or has submission/billing error(s).): The claim lacks information; N272 names the other payer's attending provider identifier.
  • OA-22 (This care may be covered by another payer per coordination of benefits.): The payer is coordinating with another plan and needs complete other-payer data.
  • N253 (Missing/incomplete/invalid attending provider primary identifier.): The attending provider's own primary identifier on this claim is the problem, not the other payer's.
  • N273 (Missing/incomplete/invalid other payer operating provider identifier.): The other payer's operating provider identifier is the problem.
  • MA04 (Secondary payment cannot be considered without the identity of or payment information from the primary payer.): Secondary payment can't be considered without the primary payer's identity or payment information.

N272 FAQ

What is an 'other payer' provider identifier?

When you bill a secondary payer electronically, you can report the number the primary payer uses for a provider. It is typically a secondary ID reported in the other-payer sections of the 837.

Why would the secondary payer need it?

It helps the secondary payer tie the primary payer's adjudication to the right provider, especially when the primary used a proprietary provider number instead of, or alongside, the NPI.

Does every secondary claim need it?

No. It is usually situational, needed only when the prior payer identified the provider differently. Check the secondary payer's companion guide.