OA-115: Procedure Postponed, Canceled, or Delayed

What Does OA-115 Mean?

OA-115 is an other adjustment used when the postponement or cancellation is administrative in nature — such as facility emergencies, equipment failures, or scheduling system errors that do not fit neatly into contractual obligation. The resolution approach is the same: verify completion status and either appeal or void.

CARC 115 fires when a payer identifies that a billed procedure was postponed, canceled, or not completed on the date of service indicated on the claim. This denial says the payer has information or reason to believe the service was not fully rendered — the claim was submitted for a procedure that did not happen as billed.

The most common scenario is a billing workflow failure: a procedure was scheduled and the claim was auto-generated, but the procedure was subsequently postponed or canceled due to patient health changes, equipment failures, scheduling conflicts, or insurance authorization issues. The billing system released the claim before anyone flagged the cancellation. Less commonly, the payer may have external information (such as a facility report or another claim) indicating the procedure was not completed.

This denial can also occur when a procedure was partially completed before being stopped. In those cases, the full procedure code should not be billed — instead, any separately billable preparatory work (anesthesia, pre-procedure prep) should be billed under appropriate codes. CO is the primary group code because billing for an uncompleted procedure is a provider-side issue. The fix depends on whether the procedure was actually completed: if yes, appeal with proof; if no, void the claim.

How to Resolve

Determine whether the procedure was actually completed, then either appeal with proof of completion or void the claim and rebill when the procedure is performed.

1. Confirm procedure status Review records to determine if the procedure was completed despite the administrative issue, or if it was genuinely postponed.
2. Appeal or void accordingly If completed, appeal with documentation. If not completed, void the claim and rebill when the procedure is performed.

How to Prevent OA-115

• Maintain contingency billing procedures for facility emergencies that prevent automatic claim generation for canceled procedures
• Ensure scheduling system status updates flow to the billing system in real-time

Also Filed As

The same CARC 115 may appear with different Group Codes:

Related Denial Codes