CO-267: Claim/Service Spans Multiple Months

What Does CO-267 Mean?

CO-267 is the standard pairing for this technical denial. The payer denied the multi-month claim as a contractual requirement — your agreement with the payer requires claims to either include the proper remark code or be submitted on a per-month basis. This is not a coverage denial; it is a formatting requirement. Once corrected and resubmitted, the claim should process normally.

When CARC 267 appears on a remittance, the payer is flagging that the dates of service on your claim cross from one calendar month into another — and the claim does not include the required remark code to accompany a multi-month service. This is a technical formatting denial, not a clinical or coverage issue. The payer's adjudication system requires either a specific remark code (NCPDP Reject Reason Code or a non-ALERT Remittance Advice Remark Code) on multi-month claims, or it requires you to split the claim into separate monthly submissions.

This code surfaces most frequently with long-term care facilities, home health agencies, behavioral health providers, and any practice that bills for services spanning weeks or months — such as rental DME, ongoing therapy courses, or residential treatment programs. The root cause is almost always a billing system configuration issue: the system either failed to attach the required remark code or did not automatically split the claim at month boundaries.

The resolution is straightforward but varies by payer. Some payers accept multi-month claims when accompanied by the proper remark code. Others require one claim per calendar month regardless. Check the specific payer's billing guidelines to determine which approach to take, then correct and resubmit. No appeal is necessary since this is a formatting requirement, not a coverage dispute.

Common Causes

How to Resolve

1. Identify the missing remark code Determine which remark code the payer requires on multi-month claims. Common options include NCPDP Reject Reason Codes or non-ALERT RARCs. Check the payer's billing manual.
2. Correct the claim format Either add the required remark code to the existing multi-month claim or split it into separate claims for each calendar month, based on the payer's requirements.
3. Resubmit the corrected claim(s) Submit the corrected claim(s) with all required documentation. If splitting, ensure each claim has the correct date range and proportional charges.

Common RARC Pairings

The RARC code tells you exactly what triggered the CO-267:

How to Prevent CO-267

• Configure billing system rules to automatically flag or split claims that span multiple calendar months before submission
• Maintain a reference of payer-specific requirements for multi-month claim formatting
• Include required remark codes in billing templates for service types that routinely span multiple months
• Train billing staff on proper date-of-service entry and multi-month billing requirements

General Prevention

• Ensure comprehensive documentation indicating service duration for multi-month services
• Split claims by calendar month before submission when required by payer policies
• Include all required remark codes when submitting multi-month service claims
• Validate date ranges before claim submission to avoid inadvertent multi-month spans
• Stay current with individual payer policies regarding multi-month service billing

Also Filed As

The same CARC 267 may appear with different Group Codes:

Related Denial Codes