CO 270 denial code
Claim adjustment reason code 270. Often reported as CO 270 or OA 270.
Medical plan: bill the dental plan
Unofficial reference. This is our own plain-English explanation, not the official code text. Payer rules differ. Verify with the payer and the official X12 code list. AlphaPrefix is not affiliated with X12, CMS or any payer. Data last updated .
What 270 means
Send these services to the patient's dental insurance; the medical plan treats them as dental and has no benefit for them.
The medical payer decided the service is dental and not covered under the medical policy. It did not forward the claim; if it had, code 291 would appear instead.
This is mainly a routing issue. Submit to the dental carrier using the dental claim format and codes.
Group codes seen with 270
On a remittance, 270 comes after a group code. These are the ones it is most often reported with:
- CO 270 (Contractual Obligation): The provider's side of the ledger. The reduction comes from the payer contract or a rule the provider has to follow, and the patient normally cannot be billed for it.
- OA 270 (Other Adjustment): Used for adjustments that are neither the provider's contractual write-off nor the patient's share. It often appears with coordination of benefits, for example when another payer already paid.
The payer chooses the group code for each adjustment, so the same reason code can appear with another group code on your remittance. Read the two together. More about group codes.
Common causes
- A dental procedure was billed to the patient's medical plan.
- The service is excluded from medical coverage and covered by the dental policy.
- The office did not check which plan covers the service before billing.
What to do next
- Verify the patient's dental coverage and any frequency limits.
- Rebill on the dental claim form with dental procedure codes.
- Keep the medical remittance in case the dental plan asks for it.
Related codes
- 291 (reason code) Medical plan forwarded to dental plan
- 289 (reason code) Both dental and medical plans exclude it
- 254 (reason code) Dental plan: bill the medical plan
Source
Official wording: X12 Claim Adjustment Reason Codes list. The explanation on this page is our own plain-English wording, not the X12 text.
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