Denial code

CO 146 denial code

The diagnosis was not valid on that date of service.

Fix and resubmit CO

What CO 146 means

CO: Contractual obligation. The provider absorbs it and cannot bill the patient.

So the balance cannot move to the patient. Either the appeal recovers it or the practice absorbs it. That makes the appeal decision the whole decision on this line.

Is it worth appealing?

Fix and resubmit. This is a correction, not an appeal. Appealing burns the deadline.

Why it fires

In the order we see it.

  1. The diagnosis was deleted or revised in the annual October update.

  2. A code was used before its effective date.

What to do

Check the diagnosis against the ICD-10 set in force on the date of service, then rebill.

What actually wins it

The documentation, not the argument.

The common mistake. Do not appeal. The October changes catch out claims that span the boundary, and a correction is faster than an argument.

Where this comes from. This is our own reading of the code, not the payer's and not a copy of the standards text. We classify it from how these denials actually resolve. Where we are unsure, we say so rather than guessing.

CO 146 description

The diagnosis was not valid on that date of service. So the balance cannot move to the patient. Either the appeal recovers it or the practice absorbs it. That makes the appeal decision the whole decision on this line.

This is our plain-English wording, not the official X12 text. X12 asserts copyright over the published descriptions, so we write our own and say what it means for the money rather than restating the code.

Related codes

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