New claim edit: Missing attachment control number

Stedi now rejects 837P professional, 837D dental, and 837I institutional claims that indicate an attachment was or will be sent by mail, electronically, email, fax, or file transfer – but don’t include an attachment control number.

Some payers require supporting documents, such as X-rays or treatment plans, before approving claims for certain services. Depending on the payer, you can send attachments in several ways, including by mail or electronically using a 275 claim attachment transaction through Stedi.

When a claim indicates that an attachment was or will be sent by mail, electronically, email, fax, or file transfer, you must include an attachment control number. The payer uses this value to match the attachment to the claim.

Payers may reject claims missing this number, which can cause delays.

This edit – the industry’s term for an automated validation rule – catches the issue before it reaches the payer.

This edit only applies when the claim indicates that an attachment was or will be sent. If the claim does not reference an attachment, this edit does not run.

Rejection errors
If you submit a claim that fails the edit using Stedi’s claim submission APIs or professional claim form, you’ll get back an error message in real time. If you’re using a JSON API endpoint, the response includes error details in the errors array:

{
  "errors": [
    {
      "code": "33",
      "description": "Attachment control number is required when attachment is sent by mail, electronically, email, fax, or file transfer",
      "followupAction": "Please Correct and Resubmit"
    }
  ]
}

If you submit a claim that fails the edit using SFTP, Stedi will reject the claim with a 277CA claim acknowledgment. The acknowledgment will contain a related claim status category code, claim status code, and error message. You can use the error message to correct and resubmit the claim.