Retrieve claim responses

After submitting claims through SFTP, you can retrieve claim responses at your preferred cadence from the from-stedi directory. You can optionally set up webhooks to get real-time notifications when new responses are available.

Set up webhooks (optional)

Webhooks send real-time notifications to your endpoint when Stedi processes claims, attachments, and responses. You can configure webhooks to help you monitor your claims pipeline and receive instant alerts when issues occur.

When configuring webhooks for SFTP submission, consider the following event bindings:

Event typeDescription
Transaction processed (strongly recommended for 999s)Emitted when Stedi processes any transaction, including 999 Implementation Acknowledgments, 277CA claim acknowledgments, and 835 Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA).
  • Set up event bindings filtered to 999s so you receive instant notifications when Stedi rejects one or more transactions. Learn more about monitoring for 999 rejections.
  • You can also configure event bindings for 277CAs and ERAs to receive real-time notifications when payer responses are available.
File failed (recommended)Emitted when Stedi fails to process a response from a payer or cannot deliver a submitted claim. We recommend monitoring these events because they include errors that are only available through this event type, such as an invalid envelope or other issues that prevent Stedi from parsing the file.
File delivered (optional)Emitted when Stedi successfully delivers your claim or attachment to our connection with the payer.
  • Configuring event bindings for claims and attachments gives you real-time notifications when Stedi delivers your transactions to the payer.
  • This only confirms Stedi delivered the file - it doesn't indicate whether the payer accepted or rejected the claim.

The following examples show transaction processed events for a 999, 277CA, and 835 ERA. The x12.metadata.transaction.transactionSetIdentifier property identifies the transaction type (999, 277, or 835).

The following example shows a file failed event. The errors array contains details about the failure.

Retrieve claim responses

You can retrieve claim responses at your preferred cadence from the from-stedi directory. These responses are in X12 EDI format.

  • You'll first receive a 999 Implementation Acknowledgment from Stedi if any transaction in your submission was rejected (including partial rejections). We emit 999s for both claim and claim attachment submissions. We strongly recommend monitoring 999s for rejections.
  • Once Stedi accepts your claim, you may receive 277CA claim acknowledgment and 835 Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA) responses.

X12 EDI specifications: 999 | 277 | 835

Configure file names

You can configure how Stedi names the files you receive in the from-stedi directory. Go to the SFTP setup page in your account settings and select your preferred File naming option: Semantic or UUID only.

Semantic

Semantic filenames include a timestamp, a UUID, and a semantic identifier in the format {TIMESTAMP}_{UUID}_{SEMANTIC_IDENTIFIER}.x12. For example: 20260416124500_f9591145-8343-4bd8-a338-5bcca8ac3baf_999.x12.

  • Timestamp: The UTC timestamp when Stedi processed the file, in YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format. For example: 20260416124500.

  • UUID: Stedi's internally generated 36-character identifier for the file. For example: f9591145-8343-4bd8-a338-5bcca8ac3baf.

  • Semantic identifier: Stedi's standardized transaction identifier.

    X12 Transaction SetSemantic Identifier
    TA1 Interchange AcknowledgementTA1
    999 Implementation Acknowledgment999
    277CA claim acknowledgment277CA
    835 Electronic Remittance Advice835

UUID only (legacy)

Filenames only include a unique identifier in the format {UUID}.x12. For example: f9591145-8343-4bd8-a338-5bcca8ac3baf.x12.

277CA claim acknowledgment

The 277CA indicates whether a claim was accepted for processing or rejected due to correctable errors, such as invalid data, missing information, or failure to comply with payer-specific rules.

A rejection is different from a denial. Claims are denied during adjudication, so you'll only see denial statuses in the 835 Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA). A 277CA rejection indicates that the claim never made it to the adjudication step. In these cases, the 277CA will include error codes and descriptions to help you correct the issues before resubmitting the claim.

You may receive multiple 277CAs for each claim you submit. You should monitor these 277CAs to track the claim's status as it moves through Stedi and the payer's systems:

  • Clearinghouse: You'll receive the first 277CA from Stedi within about 30 minutes of submitting the claim to indicate whether we have accepted or rejected it. You may receive additional 277CAs as we route the claim to the payer.
  • Payer: You may receive one or more 277CAs from the payer. Typically, there is one 277CA that indicates receipt of the claim and a second 277CA that contains summary counts of transactions received, information about accepted transactions, and details for rejected transactions.

Each 277CA typically correlates to one 837 claim. However:

  • Some payers may send a single 277CA that references multiple claims.
  • Payers sometimes split a single claim into multiple claims during processing. In these cases, you may receive multiple 277CAs from the payer for the original claim you submitted.
  • Payers may send another 277CA when they forward a claim to a secondary payer in a coordination of benefits scenario.
  • (SFTP only) When you submit a bulk claim, you'll typically receive one 277CA per claim. For example, if you submit a bulk transaction containing information for 10 claims, you'll typically receive 10 separate 277CAs.

Determine sender

To determine whether a 277CA is from a clearinghouse or the payer, check Loop 2100A NM103 (Information Source Name).

You can also find this information in the Stedi portal:

  1. Go to the claims view.
  2. Find the associated claim and click it to view the claim timeline.
  3. Find the 277CA in the timeline view. The From field indicates whether the acknowledgment is from Stedi or the payer.

277CA claim timeline

277CA vs. claim status check

The 277CA contains different information than a real-time claim status check. Specifically:

  • 277CAs: Tell you whether the payer has received a claim and accepted it for processing. If the claim was rejected, 277CAs tell you why so you can resubmit. They don't indicate whether the claim has been adjudicated or paid.

  • Real-time claim status checks: Tell you the status of a claim that's already been accepted into the payer's system. They provide information about whether the claim has been adjudicated, paid, denied, or is pending further review.

    That's why claim status checks can return more Claim Status Category Codes than a 277CA. Specifically, they can return codes in the P range for pending claims and codes in the F range for final claim statuses.

If you're waiting for an ERA, you should first check the related 277CA to confirm that the claim was accepted for processing. If the claim was rejected, you won't receive an ERA because the payer didn't adjudicate the claim.

Then, you can run a real-time claim status check to get updates about the claim's adjudication and payment status.

835 Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA)

Processing ERAs always requires transaction enrollment with the payer.

The ERA contains details about payments for specific services and explanations for any adjustments or denials. The payer only sends ERAs for claims they have accepted for adjudication. If a claim is rejected in a 277CA, there's no adjudication or payment information to report.

Duplicate ERAs

Payers typically send one ERA per claim. However, they may occasionally retransmit identical 835 ERAs. In rare cases, payers may also send multiple different ERAs for the same claim. You should have logic in place to handle both scenarios.

You can identify identical ERAs by comparing the Check or EFT Trace Number. Check TRN02 (Check or EFT Trace Number) in the TRN (Reassociation Trace Number) segment.

Correlate responses with claim

You can use the following identifiers from the original claim to correlate the 277CA and 835 ERA responses.

Entire claim

Use Loop 2300 CLM01 (Patient Control Number) from the original claim, if provided.

  • In the 277CA, this number is returned as Loop 2200D TRN02 (Patient Control Number).

Some payers batch acknowledgments for multiple claims into a single 277CA. This is more likely if you submitted multiple claims within a single 837 claim envelope. In these cases, the 277CA will contain multiple iterations of Loop 2200D (Claim Status Tracking Number). You can use each TRN02 (Patient Control Number) value in the 277CA to correlate it with the original claim.

  • In the 835 ERA, this number is returned as Loop 2100 CLP01 (Patient Control Number).

Specific service lines

Use Loop 2400 REF02 (Line Item Control Number) from the original claim, if provided.

Location in responses:

  • In the 277CA, this number is sometimes returned as Loop 2220D REF02 (Line Item Control Number), but not always. This is because a 277CA only contains Loop 2220D (Service Line Information) when the claim was rejected because of issues with the information provided for the service line.
  • In the 835 ERA this number is returned as Loop 2110 REF02 (Line Item Control Number).

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