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N79 Remark Code: Service Conflicts With Patient Location

N79 means the service billed is not compatible with the patient's location information. The payer's records or the claim's place of service suggest the patient was somewhere, such as an inpatient hospital or nursing facility, where this service cannot be billed as submitted.

Quick facts

Code
N79 (RARC N79)
Status
Active In use since January 1, 2000.
Code set
Remittance Advice Remark Codes (RARC)
Group codes
  • CO (Contractual Obligation): The service is denied or adjusted as a provider billing issue. It should not be billed to the patient while it can be corrected.
  • OA (Other Adjustment): Some payers report the conflict as another adjustment pending clarification of the patient's location.
Official description
Service billed is not compatible with patient location information.
X12 Remittance Advice Remark Codes, retrieved September 25, 2026
Last verified
against the official X12 list.

What N79 means

Some services only make sense in certain settings, and some settings limit what can be billed separately. N79 tells you the payer found a mismatch between the service and where the patient was. That mismatch may come from the claim itself, such as a place of service that does not fit the procedure, or from the payer’s records, such as a nursing facility stay on the same date.

N79 is often paired with CARC 5 or CARC 58. CARC 16 may appear when the place of service is simply coded wrong.

Common causes

  • The place of service code in box 24B did not match where the service was performed.
  • The patient was an inpatient or in a covered facility stay, but the service was billed as office-based.
  • A home-based service was billed for a patient living in a facility, or the reverse.
  • A telehealth visit used a place of service or modifier the payer does not accept.
  • The service is only payable in specific settings under the payer’s policy.

What to do

  1. Confirm where the patient was on the date of service, from the record and from eligibility or facility information.
  2. Check the place of service code against the documentation and payer rules.
  3. Correct and resubmit with resubmission code 7 if the place of service was wrong.
  4. Bill the right entity if the patient was in a facility that must bill the service, or seek payment under your arrangement with it.
  5. Appeal if the payer’s location records are wrong, with proof of where the patient was.

How to prevent it

Default place of service codes by location in your scheduling system, and require a review whenever staff override them. Ask about recent hospital or facility stays when patients check in.

Codes that may appear with N79

  • CO-5 (The procedure code/type of bill is inconsistent with the place of service.): The procedure code or type of bill is inconsistent with the place of service.
  • CO-58 (Treatment was deemed by the payer to have been rendered in an inappropriate or invalid place of service.): The service was rendered in an inappropriate or invalid place of service.
  • CO-16 (Claim/service lacks information or has submission/billing error(s).): A billing error, such as a wrong place of service code.
  • M77 (Missing/incomplete/invalid/inappropriate place of service.): The place of service is missing, invalid, or inappropriate.
  • N428 (Not covered when performed in this place of service.): The service is not covered when performed in this place of service.
  • N47 (Claim conflicts with another inpatient stay.): The claim conflicts with another inpatient stay.

N79 FAQ

What counts as patient location information?

It includes the place of service on the claim and the payer's own records of where the patient was, such as an active inpatient or nursing facility stay on the same date.

Can I just change the place of service?

Only to reflect where the service actually happened. The place of service must match the documentation.

Does N79 apply to telehealth?

It can, if the place of service or modifiers used for a telehealth visit do not match the payer's rules or the patient's location on that date. Payer telehealth rules vary.