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Remittance advice remark code

N382: Missing, incomplete or invalid patient identifier

N382 means: Missing/incomplete/invalid patient identifier. The payer cannot match the patient from what was sent.

N382 is a remark code, not a reason code

It explains or adds detail to a decision. It does not carry a group code, and it can never on its own make a balance the patient’s responsibility. The claim adjustment reason code on the same remittance line is what actually decides the outcome — read that first, then read this for the detail.

CARC — claim adjustment reason code. What was adjusted, and under which group code.
RARC — remittance advice remark code, like this one. Explanatory only. No group code, no patient responsibility.
Never move a balance to the patient on the strength of a remark code. Find the reason code and read its group code.

What causes it

Member ID transposed, or missing a required alpha prefix
Name on the claim differs from the name on the policy
Date of birth mismatch
Old member ID used after the payer reissued cards

How to work it

Run eligibility and take the identifier exactly as the payer returns it, including any prefix or suffix.
Compare name and date of birth character by character against the payer record, not against the chart.
Correct and resubmit. This is a claim that was never processed, so it is a resubmission rather than an appeal.
Check the timely filing window — unprocessable claims still age.

How to stop it recurring

Capture the identifier from an eligibility response rather than from a photocopied card, and re-verify after any plan year change.

Who does this work

A eligibility & benefits verification seat at $1,700 per seat per month works this queue full time, during your business hours, inside your own system. Every call is logged with the payer reference number and the outcome, and every Friday you get it in writing.

What that seat does →

Codes worked the same way

N382 is corrected and resubmitted. So are these, which is why a queue sorted by recovery route moves faster than one sorted by code number — the same person, in the same system, with the same evidence to hand, clears all of them in one pass.

CO-16 — Claim lacks information
CO-4 — Modifier and code disagree
CO-11 — Diagnosis and procedure disagree
CO-140 — Member ID and name disagree
CO-5 — Wrong place of service
CO-9 — Diagnosis and age disagree

Specialties that name this among their costliest

These are specialties whose own worst denials include one of this kind. The line under each is the denial they name, quoted from their page so you can see what the link is based on.

Pain Management
Bilateral procedures billed without the correct modifier
Anesthesia
Time units miscalculated from an incomplete anesthesia record
Orthopedics
Modifier 25 denied on an E/M billed the same day as a procedure
Behavioral Health
Telehealth denied for the wrong place-of-service or modifier
Gastroenterology
Screening colonoscopy converted to diagnostic without modifier PT or 33
Dermatology
Modifier 59 on multiple lesion removals rejected as unbundling

What leaving it costs

Working a denied claim costs $57.23 per denied claim in administrative time. Source. At 100 denials a month — an illustration, not a measurement of your practice — that is $5,723 a month, or $68,676 a year, in labour alone.

The figure that makes it worth spending: about 90% of initially denied claims are eventually paid. Source. The reason a denial sits is almost never that nobody knows how to work it — it is that nobody has the hours.

Questions

What does denial code N382 mean?

Missing/incomplete/invalid patient identifier. In plain terms: The payer cannot match the patient from what was sent.

What causes N382?

Member ID transposed, or missing a required alpha prefix. Name on the claim differs from the name on the policy. Date of birth mismatch. Old member ID used after the payer reissued cards.

How do you fix a N382 denial?

Run eligibility and take the identifier exactly as the payer returns it, including any prefix or suffix.. Compare name and date of birth character by character against the payer record, not against the chart.. Correct and resubmit. This is a claim that was never processed, so it is a resubmission rather than an appeal.. Check the timely filing window — unprocessable claims still age..

Can N382 be prevented?

Capture the identifier from an eligibility response rather than from a photocopied card, and re-verify after any plan year change.

What is the difference between N382 and N381?

N382: The payer cannot match the patient from what was sent. N381: An alert, not a denial: the payer processed the line under your contract and is pointing you at it. The reason code beside it carries the money. They are different reasons that happen to sit next to each other in the list, and they are worked differently — N382 is corrected and resubmitted; N381 is checked against the contract before any work is done.

Code descriptions are the standard X12 claim adjustment reason and remittance advice remark code text. Payer policies differ, and the payer’s own coverage policy governs any individual claim. This page is working guidance, not legal or clinical advice.

Last updated 2026-09-12. This is operational guidance drawn from payer remittance practice, not legal, coding or reimbursement advice. Payer-specific rules vary and change; confirm against the payer’s own policy before acting on a specific claim.

Written by Ibtesam Asif · Last reviewed 2026-09-12

Code descriptions are the standard published text. Everything after them is operational guidance from our own work, and payer policy governs any individual claim.

Other denial codes

Next step

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