Skip to main content

N452 Remark Code: Incomplete Admission Summary Report

N452 means the admission summary report the payer received was incomplete or invalid. The document arrived, but it lacked required elements, did not match the claim, or could not be accepted in the form it was sent.

Quick facts

Code
N452 (RARC N452)
Status
Active In use since July 1, 2008.
Code set
Remittance Advice Remark Codes (RARC)
Group codes
  • CO (Contractual Obligation): The payer cannot finish review until a complete report is provided. The facility or provider corrects it; the patient is not billed.
Official description
Incomplete/invalid Admission Summary Report.
X12 Remittance Advice Remark Codes, retrieved September 25, 2026
Last verified
against the official X12 list.

What N452 means

N452 is not about a missing document. The payer has an admission summary report, but it could not use it. The report may have been unsigned, partial, for a different date or patient, or missing content the payer needs to evaluate the admission. It is normally paired with CARC 251 (documentation incomplete or deficient).

Frequent defects

  • No authentication. The report lacks the author’s signature, credentials, or date.
  • Pages missing. Only the first page of a multi-page document was sent.
  • Mismatched dates. The admission date on the report does not match the claim’s admission or statement dates.
  • Wrong patient or encounter. A report from a prior admission was pulled by mistake.
  • Thin content. The report does not state the reason for admission or the plan of care clearly enough to support the stay.
  • Unreadable copy. Scanned pages are too faint or cut off.

Fixing it

  1. Review the document you sent against the list above and against any specific requirement the payer named.
  2. Pull the complete, signed version from the record. If the author needs to add an addendum, it should be clearly marked with the date it was written.
  3. Reconcile dates between the report and the claim. If the claim was wrong, submit a corrected claim with type of bill frequency code 7 or resubmission code 7, depending on the claim form.
  4. Resend with a cover sheet naming the claim and what was corrected.

How to prevent it

Have a second person check signatures, page counts, and dates before any records leave the building. A short release checklist catches most of these problems in minutes.

Codes that may appear with N452

  • CO-251 (The attachment/other documentation that was received was incomplete or deficient.): The documentation received was incomplete or deficient.
  • CO-250 (The attachment/other documentation that was received was the incorrect attachment/document.): The wrong document was received, and the expected admission summary is still missing.
  • N451 (Missing Admission Summary Report.): The admission summary report was not received at all.
  • N460 (Incomplete/invalid Discharge Summary.): The discharge summary was incomplete or invalid.
  • CO-B12 (Services not documented in patient's medical records.): Services not documented in the patient's medical records.

N452 FAQ

Can we add missing information to the report now?

Only through a proper late entry or addendum by the author, clearly dated when it was written. Altering the original document is not appropriate.

What if the admission date on the report differs from the claim?

Find out which is correct. If the claim is wrong, correct the claim. If the report has an error, the author should address it with a dated addendum.

Will the payer tell us what was wrong?

Sometimes the letter or remittance says. If not, call and ask which element failed, so the resubmission fixes the actual problem.