CO-13: Date of Death Precedes Date of Service

What Does CO-13 Mean?

With CO (Contractual Obligation), the CARC 13 adjustment is the provider's responsibility. The payer denied or reduced payment because of payer has an erroneous date of death on file for the patient, causing services to be denied. The patient is not liable for this amount. If the denial is in error, the provider can correct and resubmit the claim or file an appeal with supporting documentation.

CARC 13 appears on a remittance when the payer identifies an issue related to date of death precedes date of service. This is a technical billing or coding problem that must be corrected before the claim can be processed for payment. The denial indicates the claim data did not meet the payer's adjudication requirements.

Common scenarios that trigger this adjustment include: payer has an erroneous date of death on file for the patient, causing services to be denied; Date of service was entered incorrectly on the claim, placing it after the patient's recorded death date; Patient passed away and the payer recorded the death, but subsequent legitimate claims for pre-death services were denied. The group code paired with CARC 13 determines who bears the financial responsibility — CO places it on the provider as a contractual obligation, OA indicates a coordination of benefits or other payer adjustment, PR shifts it to the patient.

Common Causes

How to Resolve

1. Review the remittance details Examine the CO-13 adjustment and any accompanying RARC codes to identify the specific reason for the denial.
2. Identify the root cause Determine which issue applies: incorrect date of death on payer records, incorrect date of service on claim, deceased patient record not updated, among others.
3. Correct the claim Address the identified issue — update the claim data in your billing system to resolve the date of death precedes date of service problem.
4. Resubmit the corrected claim Submit the corrected claim following the payer's resubmission guidelines. Include any supporting documentation that addresses the denial reason.
5. Appeal if the original claim was correct If the patient was alive on the date of service and the payer has an erroneous death record, appeal with medical records, office visit documentation, and patient identification showing the patient was alive. Contact SSA if the error originates from Social Security records.

Common RARC Pairings

The RARC code tells you exactly what triggered the CO-13:

How to Prevent CO-13

• Verify patient eligibility before providing services to catch death date issues
• Double-check dates of service before claim submission
• Run real-time eligibility checks that flag deceased patient status
• Implement pre-submission edits for date validation

Also Filed As

The same CARC 13 may appear with different Group Codes:

Related Denial Codes