Claim edit: Accident date after the service date
Stedi now rejects 837P professional and 837D dental claims where the accident date is after a service date.
Accident and service dates
The accident date is the date the injury occurred. You report it when a claim relates to an accident.
Accident date
| Claim type | JSON API field | X12 element |
|---|---|---|
| 837P professional | Claim Submission API: claimInformation.claimDateInformation.accidentDateCMS-1500 API: encounter.clinicalDates.accident | DTP-03 (Accident Date) of Loop 2300 (Claim Information) |
| 837D dental | claimInformation.claimDateInformation.accidentDate | DTP-03 (Accident Date) of Loop 2300 (Claim Information) |
The service date is the date the provider performed the service. You report it on each service line.
Service date
| Claim type | JSON API field | X12 element |
|---|---|---|
| 837P professional | Claim Submission API: claimInformation.serviceLines[].serviceDateCMS-1500 API: serviceLines[].datesOfService.start | DTP-03 (Service Date) of Loop 2400 (Service Line Number) |
| 837D dental | claimInformation.serviceLines[].serviceDate | DTP-03 (Service Date) of Loop 2400 (Service Line Number) |
In dental claims, the service-line service date is optional. When a service line omits it, the claim-level service date in claimInformation.claimDateInformation.serviceDate (DTP-03 of Loop 2300) applies.
How the edit works
An accident date ties the claim's services to that accident. A service before the accident can't result from it. If the accident date is after a service date, the payer may reject the claim.
This edit catches the issue before the claim reaches the payer. It prevents payer rejections, which take longer to resolve and delay payment for the provider.
Rejection errors
How you get the error depends on how you submit the claim.
If you submit a claim using the Create Professional Claim (CMS-1500) JSON endpoint and the claim fails the edit, you'll get back a 201 response with an errors array in real time:
{
"errors": [
{
"description": "Invalid Accident Date. The accident date must be on or before the service date. The submitted accident date, 20240305, is after the service date, 20240301 on line 1. Correct and resubmit."
}
]
}If you submit a claim using Stedi's other Claim Submission API endpoints and the claim fails the edit, you'll get back an error response in real time. The response includes details in the errors array:
{
"errors": [
{
"code": "33",
"description": "Invalid Accident Date. The accident date must be on or before the service date. The submitted accident date, 20240305, is after the service date, 20240301 on line 1. Correct and resubmit.",
"followupAction": "Please Correct and Resubmit"
}
]
}If you submit a claim using SFTP and the claim fails the edit, Stedi will reject the claim with a 277CA claim acknowledgment. The acknowledgment will include a related claim status category code, claim status code, and error message:
STC*A7>727*[DATE]*U*[AMOUNT]******A8>187**Invalid Accident Date. The accident date must be on or before the service date. The submitted accident date, 20240305, is after the service date, 20240301 on line 1. Correct and resubmit.~Related claim edits
Stedi has another edit for accident-related claims without an accident date. See Missing accident date.