CARC · Contractual Obligations (provider writes off)

Denial Code CO-297

Claim received by the medical plan, but benefits not available under this plan. Submit these services to the patient's vision plan for further consideration

Category
CARC
3
FAQs Answered Below

The PayerReady Medical Coding Team has not authored specific guidance for CO-297. The classification and any sample correspondence below are generated from the X12 denial-code group and prefix only. Verify your specific claim circumstances and your payer's current appeal or resubmission policy before sending any correspondence. For expert guidance on the most-common denial codes, see CO-45, CO-97, CO-50, and other curated pages.

Template

Resubmission to correct payer

Use this cover letter when resubmitting the claim to the correct primary payer after a routing or coordination-of-benefits denial. This is NOT an appeal with the denying payer.

[Your Practice Letterhead]
[Date]

[Correct Payer Name]
Claims Department
[Correct Payer Address]

Re: Claim Submission — Prior Payer Denial Code CO-297
Patient: [Patient Name]
Member ID: [Member ID]
Date of Service: [DOS]

To Whom It May Concern:

The attached claim was initially submitted to [Prior Payer Name], which returned denial code CO-297 (Claim received by the medical plan, but benefits not available under this plan. Submit these services to the patient's vision plan for further consideration), indicating your plan is the responsible payer for this service.

Attached documentation:
• Original claim (CMS-1500 or UB-04)
• Prior payer's EOB or 835 electronic remittance advice showing the CO-297 denial
• Member eligibility confirmation for the date of service

Please process this claim per your standard adjudication timeline.

Sincerely,
[Provider Name or Billing Manager]
[NPI / TIN]
[Contact Phone]

---
This is a resubmission to the correct payer, not an appeal with the denying payer. For Medicare Secondary Payer situations, ensure the MSP questionnaire on file is current. For coordination-of-benefits, verify primary-payer status via real-time 270/271 eligibility before resubmitting.

CO-297 FAQ

What does denial code CO-297 mean? +

Denial code CO-297 indicates: Claim received by the medical plan, but benefits not available under this plan. Submit these services to the patient's vision plan for further consideration. This falls under Contractual Obligations (provider writes off).

Can I appeal a CO-297 denial? +

No. CO-297 indicates the claim was sent to the wrong payer, or the service is covered under a separate arrangement. Resubmit to the correct primary payer rather than filing a written appeal with the denying payer.

Can I bill the patient for a CO-297 denial? +

Not yet. CO-297 means the claim needs to go to a different payer first. Once the correct primary payer has processed the claim, any remaining patient-responsibility amount can be billed to the patient per that payer's EOB.

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Download the appeal letter template

Copy the template above, customize clinical reasoning, and attach supporting documentation.

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PR

Appeal template and root-cause analysis verified against the X12 Claim Adjustment Reason Code reference and CMS NCCI 2026. See data sources and methodology.

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Reviewed by the PayerReady Medical Coding Team

Verified against the CMS 2026 code set on May 31, 2026.

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