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Managing Invalid, Rejected, Denied Claims

Learn why the claim is in an invalid, rejected, or denied status and what to do about it.

Dharti Patel avatar
Written by Dharti Patel
Updated this week

The medical claim lifecycle can be complicated and confusing. DocStation's Revenue Cycle Management team has the expertise to simplify and streamline this process so you can focus your time on patient care.

Beta Feature: DocStation Copilot Claim Summary

If you're struggling to understand how to resolve an issue with a claim that is Invalid, Rejected or Denied, the DocStation Copilot Claim Summary is here to help!

The Copilot Claim Summary will review and interpret various data elements of the claim and EDI reports to provide actionable insights on claims that need more support. You can also provide feedback via thumbs up/thumbs down and a brief comment. Feedback helps DocStation Copilot get smarter about handling similar claims in the future.

This feature is available for free for a short time to a select number of beta testing pharmacies. If you're interested in beta testing new features, please reach out to our support team in Chat or at support@docstation.co.

Example Claim Summaries:

Read on to learn how to take action to resolve these claim issues.

Invalid Claims

A claim will transition to the Invalid status if the patient eligibility check does not verify active coverage or if the claim does not pass a clearinghouse validation. The details about why the claim is invalid will show in the History section of the claim.

In this example, the claim failed the eligibility check because the subscriber ID isn't correct for the patient. This could be because the patient does have active coverage but under a different subscriber ID, or it could be that the patient doesn't have active coverage with that payer. To fix this, verify the patient's medical coverage, then update the ID and/or payer, then submit again.

Editing an Invalid Claim

All fields on invalid claims can be edited until the claim is ready to submit again. The claim will have passed this status when it moves to Processing status.

  1. Navigate to the claim

  2. Click the arrow to expand the History event that shows the reason the claim failed

  3. Click the field that needs to be updated

  4. Make the correct selection, e.g. edit the subscriber ID; choose a different payer from the dropdown menu, etc.

  5. Click the attestation check mark and Submit button at the bottom of the claim again

Rejected Claims

A claim will transition to Rejected status if it does not meet the acceptable criteria for the clearinghouse and/or payer. A rejected claim has not technically been adjudicated and is not recorded for a payer the same way a Paid or Denied claim is.​

In this example, the payer has rejected the claim because the payer was unable to identify active coverage for the patient. Verify the patient's medical coverage, then resubmit the claim with the corrected subscriber ID and/or payer.

Editing a Rejected Claim

A rejected claim can be transitioned to an editable status (Draft), if applicable, and then resubmitted.

  1. Navigate to the claim

  2. Click the arrow to expand the History event that shows the claim marked as Rejected to see the reason why

  3. Click the Resubmit button to move the claim back to Draft status

  4. Click the field that needs to be updated

  5. Make the correct selection, e.g. edit the subscriber ID; choose a different payer from the dropdown menu, etc.

  6. Click the attestation check mark and Submit button at the bottom of the claim again

Denied Claims

A claim will transition to Denied status after it has been adjudicated by the payer and the payer has determined the claim should be denied coverage and/or payment. A payer typically provides information to support the denial outcome by way of Claim Adjustment Reason Codes (CARCs) and Remittance Advice Remark Codes (RARCs). Hover over the CARC/RARC to see the description of the code. To learn more about these claim codes, check out this article.

In this example, the claim was denied because the provider is not in network with the payer.

Editing a Denied Claim

When applicable, a denied claim can be transitioned to an editable state (Draft) and resubmitted for re-adjudication.

  1. Navigate to the claim

  2. Click the arrow to expand the History event that shows the claim marked as Denied

  3. Click the Resubmit button to move the claim back to Draft status

  4. Click the field that needs to be updated

  5. Make the correct selection, e.g. edit the subscriber ID; choose a different payer from the dropdown menu, etc.

  6. Click the attestation check mark and Submit button at the bottom of the claim again

Check the Help Center for more medical billing knowledge like this, or ask a DocStation team member in Chat!

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