Submit test claims

You can submit test professional claims through the CMS-1500 form. Stedi processes test transactions, applies all validation, and returns test responses without sending any data to the payer. If you're new to Stedi, submitting test claims is a great way to learn how claims processing at Stedi works.

Stedi offers two test workflows for production accounts. Sandbox accounts can't submit test claims.

• Test payer-specific edits: Submit test claims to any payer and receive test 277CA claim acknowledgments from Stedi.
• Generate a test ERA: Submit test claims to the Stedi Test Payer and receive both test 277CA and test 835 ERA responses from Stedi.

Workflow 1: Test payer-specific edits

You can submit test claims to any payer. For each test claim, Stedi applies our entire catalog of edits and repairs (including any payer-specific edits) and returns a 277CA claim acknowledgment indicating whether it passed our validation.

This test claims workflow helps you validate claim data for specific payers and practice handling and interpreting 277CA responses. It's available for production accounts.

Submit test claims and attachments

You can submit test claims and claim attachments through the CMS-1500 form. Stedi processes these transactions and applies all validation, but does not send them to the payer.

To send a test claim:

1. Toggle Test mode to ON in the side navigation.
2. Go to the claims view and click Submit claim.
3. Select CMS-1500 form.
4. Complete and submit:
   • Set a unique Patient Control Number (PCN) in Box 26 (Patient account number) to correlate each test claim with the associated test responses.
   • You can add claim attachments in Box 19b or service-line attachments in Box 24 to test that workflow.

Receive test 277CAs

When you submit a test claim to any payer, Stedi returns a test 277CA claim acknowledgment indicating whether it passed our validation.

Visit Review test responses for instructions about how to review and interpret the 277CA response.

Workflow 2: Generate a test ERA

When you submit test claims to the Stedi Test Payer, Stedi returns a test 277CA claim acknowledgment and a test 835 Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA) based on the original claim. Only test claims you send to the Stedi Test Payer generate a test 835 ERA.

This test claims workflow lets you evaluate your claims processing integration from end to end. It's only available for production accounts.

Enroll with the Stedi Test Payer

You must enroll your provider with the Stedi Test Payer for 835 Claim payment. To enroll:

1. Toggle Test mode to OFF in the side navigation - enrollments aren't available in test mode.

2. Create a new provider record with the NPI and tax ID you'll use in your test claim.

   If you need to test ERAs for providers without an NPI:

   • Enroll with a dummy NPI value, such as 1999999984. Stedi validates NPIs using the Luhn algorithm, so your dummy NPI must pass this check.
   • Use a random, unique tax ID when enrolling to avoid collisions with real tax IDs in other Stedi accounts.
   • Submit test claims with a state license number and the tax ID from your enrollment.

3. Create a transaction enrollment request to enroll the provider you created with the Stedi Test Payer.

Visit Submit Enrollment Request for complete instructions.

Once submitted, the enrollment request is automatically set to LIVE status within one minute. You can start submitting test claims to the Stedi Test Payer immediately after enrollment.

Submit test claims and attachments

You can submit test claims and claim attachments to the Stedi Test Payer.

To send a test claim:

1. Toggle Test mode to ON in the side navigation.

2. Go to the claims view and click Submit claim.

3. Select CMS-1500 form.

4. Select the Stedi Test Payer.

5. Complete and submit:

   • Include the billing provider identifiers you enrolled with the Stedi Test Payer:
     • Providers with an NPI: NPI and tax ID
     • Providers without an NPI: tax ID and state license number
   • Set a unique Patient Control Number (PCN) in Box 26 (Patient account number) to correlate each test claim with the associated test responses.
   • You can add claim attachments in Box 19b or service-line attachments in Box 24 to test that workflow.

   

Receive test 277CAs and 835 ERA

Stedi returns the following responses within minutes of submitting a test claim to the Stedi Test Payer:

• A test 277CA claim acknowledgment indicating whether Stedi successfully processed the claim.
• A test 835 Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA) containing information from the original claim, including the same:
  • Provider information
  • Patient information
  • Service line details
  • Charges

Test 835 ERAs identify the payee using the billing provider's tax ID from the claim submission. The ERA also includes whichever provider identifier you submitted in the claim (NPI or state license number).

Test 835 ERAs always show all service lines as paid, with the same charge amounts you submitted in the test claim. Note that when you submit production claims, payers may send ERAs with different outcomes, including partially paid, denied, split, or bundled claims.

If Stedi rejects the claim in the 277CA, you won't receive a test 835 ERA.

View test claims

You can view test claims from the claims view in the Stedi portal. Toggle Test mode to ON in the navigation sidebar to review test claims and their associated responses.

Review test responses

Go to the claims view and toggle Test mode to ON in the side navigation. Claims view displays a list of all test claims you submitted to Stedi.

To review test 277CAs:

1. Click a test claim to view a timeline of its processing activity.
2. Click an Acknowledgment (277CA) to review its details.

Stedi displays key information about the 277CA, including the billing provider's information and status codes.

To review test ERAs linked to a test claim submission:

1. Click a test claim to view a timeline of its processing activity.
2. Click Find matching 835 ERAs under the PCN in the details panel.

Stedi displays a list of test ERAs linked to the claim submission. Click an ERA to review its details.

Interpret test 277CAs

When a test claim passes Stedi's validation, Stedi returns a 277CA with acknowledgment codes. These are the same codes you receive when Stedi forwards production claims to the payer.

When Stedi rejects your test claim, the 277CA contains error codes to help you diagnose and fix the issues with your claim data.