CARC 143 Active

CO-143: Portion of Payment Deferred

TL;DR

Contractual adjustment — review against your contract terms. The patient is not liable for this amount.

Action
Review & Decide
Who Pays
Provider
Appeal
No
Patient Impact
None
Disclaimer
This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional billing advice. Always verify information against your payer contracts and current coding guidelines. Consult a certified billing specialist for specific claim issues.

What Does CO-143 Mean?

With CO (Contractual Obligation), the CARC 143 adjustment for portion of payment deferred is a contractual reduction. The provider absorbs this amount per the payer contract or regulatory payment methodology. The patient is not responsible for the adjusted amount. Review the remittance to confirm the adjustment is consistent with your contract terms.

CARC 143 appears on a remittance when the payer applies an adjustment for portion of payment deferred. Review the group code and any accompanying RARC codes to understand the full context of this adjustment.

Common scenarios that trigger this adjustment include: the payer has approved the claim but is withholding a portion of payment pending additional review, medical record request, or audit completion; Federal or state budget constraints require a portion of the payment to be deferred to a future payment cycle; The payer's contract or payment methodology includes a phased payment approach where a portion of the claim is paid initially and the remainder is deferred to a reconciliation period. The group code paired with CARC 143 determines who bears the financial responsibility — OA indicates a coordination of benefits or other payer adjustment, CO places it on the provider as a contractual obligation, PR shifts it to the patient.

How to Resolve

  1. Review the adjustment against contract terms Compare the CO-143 adjustment with your payer contract to confirm the reduction is consistent with agreed terms or regulatory methodology.
  2. Verify the adjustment amount Confirm the dollar amount of the adjustment is calculated correctly based on the contracted rate and the service provided.
  3. Appeal if the adjustment is incorrect If the adjustment does not align with contract terms, file an appeal with contract documentation and supporting evidence.
  4. Process the contractual adjustment If the adjustment is correct per contract terms, process it accordingly in your billing system. This amount cannot be transferred to the patient.
Do Not Appeal This Code

Portion of Payment Deferred recorded under CO is a contractual obligation — the provider absorbs this amount per the payer agreement. Without an error in how the contract was applied, appeals don't apply. Review the accompanying RARC codes for context and accept the adjustment when the contract terms were applied correctly.

How to Prevent CO-143

Also Filed As

The same CARC 143 may appear with different Group Codes:

OA-143 PR-143

Related Denial Codes

CO-3 — Co-payment Amount CO-85 — Patient Interest Adjustment CO-100 — Payment Made to Patient/Insured CO-101 — Predetermination: Anticipated Payment CO-105 — Tax Withholding Amount

Sources

  1. https://www.cms.gov/medicare/claims-appeals/organization-determinations
  2. https://www.aapc.com/resources/claim-adjustment-reason-code-carc
  3. https://www.mdclarity.com/denial-code/143
  4. Codes maintained by X12. Visit x12.org for official definitions.