CARC 117 Active

PR-117: Transportation to Nearest Facility

TL;DR

Patient responsibility — review the adjustment and determine if the patient truly owes this amount.

Action
Review & Decide
Who Pays
Patient
Appeal
No
Patient Impact
Direct Financial
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 PR-117 Mean?

With PR (Patient Responsibility), the CARC 117 adjustment for transportation to nearest facility shifts the financial impact to the patient. Before billing the patient, verify that the denial reason is valid. if the underlying issue can be corrected, resubmit the claim first to potentially eliminate the patient's liability.

CARC 117 indicates transportation to nearest facility. The payer determined that the service or a portion of it does not meet coverage criteria under the patient's current plan benefits or the applicable coverage rules.

Common scenarios that trigger this adjustment include: the patient was transported by ambulance to a facility that was not the nearest appropriate facility, and the payer only covers transport to the closest facility that can provide the needed care; The medical necessity for transporting to a farther facility (e.g., specialized care not available at the nearest facility) was not documented on the claim; For non-emergency transport, the payer limits coverage to the nearest facility unless medical necessity for the specific distant facility is documented. The group code paired with CARC 117 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.

How to Resolve

  1. Review the adjustment Examine the PR-117 adjustment and any RARC codes to understand the basis for the patient responsibility.
  2. Verify the adjustment is correct Confirm the PR designation and amount are appropriate based on the patient's plan benefits.
  3. Appeal if incorrect If the adjustment appears incorrect, file an appeal with supporting documentation.
  4. Collect from the patient if valid If the adjustment is confirmed correct, generate a patient statement and follow standard collection procedures.
Do Not Appeal This Code

Transportation to Nearest Facility grouped under PR places the financial responsibility on the patient. The specific reason depends on the context of this adjustment — review any accompanying RARC codes for detail. Because this represents a placement of responsibility rather than a coverage denial, an appeal isn't the right action; verify the placement is correct before billing the patient.

How to Prevent PR-117

Also Filed As

The same CARC 117 may appear with different Group Codes:

CO-117 OA-117

Related Denial Codes

PR-13 — Date of Death Precedes Date of Service PR-14 — Date of Birth Follows Date of Service PR-19 — Workers' Compensation Claim PR-20 — Liability Carrier Responsible PR-21 — No-Fault Carrier Responsible

Sources

  1. https://www.cms.gov/medicare/payment/fee-schedules/ambulance
  2. https://www.aapc.com/resources/claim-adjustment-reason-code-carc
  3. https://www.mdclarity.com/denial-code/117
  4. Codes maintained by X12. Visit x12.org for official definitions.