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N277 Remark Code: Other Payer Rendering Provider ID

N277 means the identifier another payer uses for the rendering provider was missing, incomplete, or invalid. It shows up on secondary claims when the payer needs the rendering clinician's ID as the primary payer recorded it.

Quick facts

Code
N277 (RARC N277)
Status
Active In use since December 2, 2004.
Code set
Remittance Advice Remark Codes (RARC)
Group codes
  • CO (Contractual Obligation): The billing provider corrects the COB identifier and resubmits; nothing is owed by the patient.
  • OA (Other Adjustment): Some payers report missing prior-payer data under OA while they wait for complete coordination of benefits information.
Official description
Missing/incomplete/invalid other payer rendering provider identifier.
X12 Remittance Advice Remark Codes, retrieved September 25, 2026
Last verified
against the official X12 list.

What N277 means

The rendering provider is the clinician who personally performed the service. On a primary claim you identify them by NPI. On a secondary claim, the electronic format also lets you report how the primary payer identified that clinician. N277 means the secondary payer needed that prior-payer identifier and did not receive a usable one.

The remark is usually tied to CARC 16 and occasionally reported alongside prior-payer adjustment codes. It does not question who performed the service.

Where it goes wrong

Groups with many clinicians. Each rendering provider may carry a different payer-assigned number with the primary plan, and only some are stored in your system.

Changed rendering provider. The secondary claim lists a different clinician from the one on the primary claim, so the prior-payer ID doesn’t fit.

Manual COB entry. Staff enter paid amounts and adjustments, but skip provider identifiers in the other-payer section.

Missing qualifier. The identifier is present but the type code is absent or wrong.

How to fix it

  1. Pull the primary payer’s ERA for the claim and note the rendering provider it processed.
  2. Obtain that clinician’s primary-payer identifier from enrollment records.
  3. Enter it in the other-payer rendering provider field, with the correct qualifier.
  4. Confirm the rendering provider is the same on both claims.
  5. Resubmit with frequency code 7 and the original claim number.

How to prevent it

Generate secondary claims directly from the posted primary ERA, and keep each clinician’s payer-assigned numbers on file. An ERA Analyzer review of secondary remits can show whether N277 clusters around specific clinicians or payers. The COB denials guide explains other common secondary-claim failures.

Codes that may appear with N277

  • CO-16 (Claim/service lacks information or has submission/billing error(s).): The claim lacks information; N277 specifies the other payer's rendering provider identifier.
  • OA-23 (The impact of prior payer(s) adjudication including payments and/or adjustments. (Use only with Group Code OA)): Reports the impact of the prior payer's adjudication, which depends on correct COB data.
  • N290 (Missing/incomplete/invalid rendering provider primary identifier.): The rendering provider's own NPI on this claim is missing or invalid.
  • N276 (Missing/incomplete/invalid other payer referring provider identifier.): The other payer's identifier for the referring provider is the problem.
  • N479 (Missing Explanation of Benefits (Coordination of Benefits or Medicare Secondary Payer).): The prior payer's explanation of benefits is missing.

N277 FAQ

Does N277 affect professional claims?

It can. Both professional and institutional COB claims can report the rendering provider as the prior payer identified them, so N277 is not limited to facility claims.

My rendering NPI is correct. Why the denial?

N277 isn't about the NPI you reported for the rendering provider. It is about the separate identifier the primary payer used, reported in the other-payer section.

What if the primary payer only uses NPIs?

Ask the secondary payer whether it still expects a value. If the primary payer has no proprietary number, the secondary payer may accept the claim without one.