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N278 Remark Code: Other Payer Service Facility ID

N278 means the identifier another payer uses for the service facility, the location where care was provided, was missing, incomplete, or invalid. It applies to coordination of benefits claims that report how the primary payer identified that location.

Quick facts

Code
N278 (RARC N278)
Status
Active In use since December 2, 2004.
Code set
Remittance Advice Remark Codes (RARC)
Group codes
  • CO (Contractual Obligation): Provider-correctable COB data; the patient is not responsible for this adjustment.
Official description
Missing/incomplete/invalid other payer service facility provider identifier.
X12 Remittance Advice Remark Codes, retrieved September 25, 2026
Last verified
against the official X12 list.

What N278 means

When the place of service differs from the billing provider’s address, the claim names a service facility location. On a secondary claim, the electronic format can also report how the primary payer identified that facility. N278 says the secondary payer needed that prior-payer facility identifier and it was blank or not valid.

The location itself isn’t being challenged. This is a coordination of benefits data gap, normally shown alongside CARC 16.

Common causes

  • Your practice sees patients at an outside facility (a hospital, nursing facility, or partner clinic), and you don’t have the primary payer’s identifier for that site.
  • The secondary claim was produced from a template that drops other-payer facility data.
  • The facility on the secondary claim differs from the one reported to the primary payer, for example after a correction to the primary claim that wasn’t carried over.
  • The value was sent without a qualifier.

What to do

  1. Confirm the service facility on the claim and compare it with the facility on the primary payer’s processed claim.
  2. Find the primary payer’s identifier for that facility, from the primary remittance or by asking the facility.
  3. Add it to the other-payer service facility field with the correct qualifier.
  4. Submit a corrected claim with frequency code 7.
  5. If the payer still rejects it, call provider services and ask exactly which value it expects.

How to prevent it

Maintain a facility directory that records each location’s NPI, address, and any payer-assigned numbers. Tie your secondary claim workflow to that directory so the prior-payer identifier populates automatically. More secondary billing guidance is in our COB root-cause article.

Codes that may appear with N278

  • CO-16 (Claim/service lacks information or has submission/billing error(s).): Missing information; N278 identifies the other payer's service facility identifier.
  • N293 (Missing/incomplete/invalid service facility primary identifier.): The service facility's own primary identifier (NPI) on this claim is the issue.
  • N295 (Missing/incomplete/invalid service facility secondary identifier.): The service facility's own secondary identifier is the issue.
  • N277 (Missing/incomplete/invalid other payer rendering provider identifier.): The other payer's identifier for the rendering provider is the issue.

N278 FAQ

What is the service facility?

The location where services were actually furnished, such as a hospital, lab, or clinic address, when it differs from the billing provider's address. On the CMS-1500 it is box 32.

How is N278 different from N293?

N293 concerns the service facility's NPI as you reported it. N278 concerns the number a prior payer uses for that facility, reported in the coordination of benefits section.

Will fixing the facility name also fix N278?

No. N278 needs the prior payer's identifier for the facility. Name and address issues use other remarks.