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N273 Remark Code: Other Payer Operating Provider ID

N273 means the identifier another payer uses for the operating provider was missing, incomplete, or invalid. It concerns coordination of benefits data on facility surgical claims sent to a secondary or later payer.

Quick facts

Code
N273 (RARC N273)
Status
Active In use since December 2, 2004.
Code set
Remittance Advice Remark Codes (RARC)
Group codes
  • CO (Contractual Obligation): The facility can fix the COB provider data and resubmit; the patient does not owe the adjustment.
Official description
Missing/incomplete/invalid other payer operating provider identifier.
X12 Remittance Advice Remark Codes, retrieved September 25, 2026
Last verified
against the official X12 list.

What N273 means

When a surgical claim moves from the primary payer to a secondary payer, the electronic claim can describe each provider as the prior payer knew them. For the operating surgeon, that means reporting the identifier the primary payer used. N273 tells you the secondary payer required that value and did not get a usable one.

The operating surgeon’s actual eligibility is not in question. This is a gap in coordination of benefits data, usually reported with CARC 16.

Typical scenarios

  • A Medicaid or commercial secondary plan requires other-payer provider IDs whenever the primary assigned its own numbers, and the facility’s COB process ignores them.
  • The operating surgeon on the secondary claim differs from the one the primary payer processed, so the IDs don’t reconcile.
  • The ID was sent with no qualifier or with a qualifier the payer does not accept.
  • The surgeon’s primary-payer number was updated and the old value is still stored.

How to fix it

  1. Compare the primary remittance with your secondary claim for the same dates and procedures.
  2. Get the operating surgeon’s identifier as assigned by the primary payer, from the remittance or your enrollment records.
  3. Populate the other-payer operating provider field and qualifier on the secondary claim.
  4. Double-check that the operating surgeon on the claim matches the one billed to the primary payer.
  5. Resubmit as a replacement claim, frequency code 7, with the original claim number.

How to prevent it

Store each surgeon’s payer-assigned identifiers in the provider master so they can flow into COB claims automatically. Review a sample of secondary surgical claims when you add a new secondary payer to make sure all other-payer provider fields it expects are populated. Our COB root-cause guide covers the broader secondary billing workflow.

Codes that may appear with N273

  • CO-16 (Claim/service lacks information or has submission/billing error(s).): Missing information; N273 identifies the other payer's operating provider ID.
  • OA-22 (This care may be covered by another payer per coordination of benefits.): Coordination of benefits applies and the secondary payer needs full prior-payer data.
  • N262 (Missing/incomplete/invalid operating provider primary identifier.): The operating provider's own NPI on the claim is the problem.
  • N272 (Missing/incomplete/invalid other payer attending provider identifier.): The other payer's attending provider identifier is the problem.
  • N274 (Missing/incomplete/invalid other payer other provider identifier.): The other payer's identifier for an 'other provider' role is the problem.

N273 FAQ

Is N273 about the surgeon's NPI?

Not directly. It concerns how the prior payer identified the surgeon. The surgeon's own NPI on this claim is covered by a different remark (N262).

Where do I find the other payer's identifier?

Check the primary payer's remittance and your enrollment records with that payer. If it uses a proprietary provider number, that is usually what the secondary payer wants.

What if the primary payer used only the NPI?

Then the secondary payer may not need a separate value. Ask the secondary payer what it expects before resubmitting.