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N332 Remark Code: Prior Hospital Discharge Date Error

N332 means the discharge date from a prior hospital stay was missing, incomplete, or invalid. Payers use that date to confirm a qualifying stay or a required time link between the hospital discharge and the service billed.

Quick facts

Code
N332 (RARC N332)
Status
Active In use since December 2, 2004.
Code set
Remittance Advice Remark Codes (RARC)
Group codes
  • CO (Contractual Obligation): The claim was denied because the prior discharge date could not be validated. The provider must supply or correct it; the patient is not billed for this.
Official description
Missing/incomplete/invalid prior hospital discharge date.
X12 Remittance Advice Remark Codes, retrieved September 25, 2026
Last verified
against the official X12 list.

What N332 means

Some benefits hinge on a recent inpatient stay. A skilled nursing admission, for example, may require a qualifying hospital stay that ended within a set time before admission. N332 is the payer’s way of saying the date that stay ended was not reported, was incomplete, or did not line up with the rest of the claim.

N332 usually explains CARC 16. When the date is present but shows the stay did not meet the payer’s timing rule, CARC A6 may be used instead.

Common causes

  • Occurrence information left off. The post-acute facility knew about the hospital stay but did not report the discharge date with the correct occurrence or span code.
  • Admission and discharge dates reversed or the prior stay’s admission date reported in the discharge field.
  • Transfer paperwork not received from the discharging hospital, so the biller estimated the date.
  • Date conflicts, such as a discharge date that falls after the current admission.
  • Observation stay reported as inpatient. If the prior stay was outpatient observation, it may not count as a hospital discharge for the payer’s rule.

How to fix it

  1. Get the discharge summary or transfer form from the prior hospital and confirm the actual inpatient discharge date.
  2. Confirm whether that stay was inpatient or observation, because it affects both the date and whether the requirement is met.
  3. Report the date using the codes and fields the payer specifies for prior stays on institutional claims.
  4. Check the time between that discharge and your admission or start of care against the payer’s rule.
  5. Submit a corrected claim (frequency code 7) with the original claim number. If the requirement truly was not met, the corrected date will not change the outcome, so review liability notices and payer policy before resubmitting.

How to prevent it

Make the prior hospital discharge date a required intake item for post-acute admissions, verified against the hospital’s paperwork. Ask referring hospitals to send inpatient versus observation status with every referral so the qualifying stay can be confirmed before the first bill.

Codes that may appear with N332

  • CO-16 (Claim/service lacks information or has submission/billing error(s).): Claim data is missing or invalid; N332 identifies the prior hospital discharge date.
  • CO-A6 (Prior hospitalization or 30 day transfer requirement not met.): A prior hospitalization or 30-day transfer requirement was not met, which the discharge date is used to test.
  • N173 (No qualifying hospital stay dates were provided for this episode of care.): Used when no qualifying hospital stay dates were reported for the episode.
  • N318 (Missing/incomplete/invalid discharge or end of care date.): Covers a missing or invalid discharge or end-of-care date for the current claim, rather than a prior stay.
  • MA40 (Missing/incomplete/invalid admission date.): Addresses a missing or invalid admission date.

N332 FAQ

Which claims use a prior hospital discharge date?

Mostly post-acute claims, such as skilled nursing, home health, or rehabilitation, where coverage or payment depends on a recent inpatient stay. Some payers also use it for certain outpatient follow-up services.

Where does the date go?

On institutional claims it is typically reported with occurrence or occurrence span codes. Check the payer's billing manual for the exact code and field it expects.

What if the prior stay was at another hospital?

You still report its dates. Get them from the discharge summary or transfer paperwork sent by that hospital.