Medical Billing - DA0 Record Fields 1 Through 7

When doing medical billing, a lot of informationor tertiary. You can have up to three DA0
needs to be transmitted. So far in this series werecords for each claim, designated DA0-01,
have covered information that identifies theDA0-02 and DA0-03.DA0 field 3, positions 6 - 22,
provider of services and the patient. Now, weis the patient ID number. This is the number that
have to cover information that identifies theidentifies the patient and must match the number
insurance carrier the claim is actually going to.transmitted in the CA records, both CA0 and
While this may seem unnecessary, since theCA1, as well as the CB records if they are sent
person receiving the claims knows who they are,as well. Notice the positions are all the same. This
this is actually a safeguard to make sure thatmakes it easier to check for accuracy.DA0 field 4,
claims don't get sent to the wrong insuranceposition 23, is the claim filing indicator. This
carrier. The record that sends this information isindicates if the claim is primary, secondary, etc.
the DA0 record. We'll begin going over theThis is important so the carrier knows how much
specifications for that record in this review.DA0they are to be paying. Most primaries pay 80%
field 1, positions 1 - 3, is the record type. Thisand most secondaries pay the remaining
needs to be filled in with DA0 or the claim will be20%.DA0 field 5, position 24, is the payment
denied.DA0 field 2, positions 4 - 5, is the sequencesource. This tells the carrier where the payment is
number. This requires a little explaining and alsosupposed to be coming from. Again, you would
clarifies why this record needs to go at all.Whenthink they would know this, but it is to assure
medical billing a claim to an insurance carrier,that the right carrier gets the right claim.DA0 field
whether it be Blue Cross, Medicare, Medicaid, or6, positions 25 - 26, is the insurance type code.
some private insurance, many patients have moreThis is a code that the software usually gets
the one type of coverage. Some have Medicarefrom a lookup table in the program that identifies
and Medicaid. Others have Blue Cross and awhat type of insurance the patient has.DA0 field
private insurance like Prudential. In these cases,7, positions 27 - 31, is the National Payer
especially in the cases of Medicare which usuallyOrganization ID number. This is a number that is
only covers 80% of the costs, multiple insuranceassigned to every payer in the country. This
carriers are billed. To do this, you need to sendnumber must match the actual payer you're billing
multiple DA0 records. The sequence numbers, 01,or the claim won't be paid.In the next article in this
02, etc., designate the number of the insuranceseries, we'll continue with DA0 field number 8.
carrier being billed, such as the primary, secondary