RARC (Remittance Advice Remark Code)
A RARC is a standardized code that supplements a CARC on the remittance, adding the detail the adjustment reason alone does not carry.
Updated
A Remittance Advice Remark Code (RARC) is a standardized code returned on the electronic remittance advice that adds explanation the adjustment reason alone does not carry. Most RARCs are supplemental: they accompany a Claim Adjustment Reason Code and narrow its reason to something specific enough to act on — the CARC states why the line was adjusted, and the RARC says which item or policy was at issue.
There is a second kind. Informational RARCs are prefaced “Alert:” and stand on their own, without a CARC — they convey information about the claim rather than explain an adjustment. So a RARC on a line is not always attached to a reason code, and reading one as though it must be is a way to misread the line.
The RARC list is maintained by CMS, as the maintainer recognized by X12 — unlike CARCs, which are maintained through the X12 committee process. Both are national code sets, so a code carries the same meaning across payers.
In practice
The RARC is usually where the actionable detail lives. An adjustment reason may say that information is missing; the remark code is what identifies which information — and that is the difference between a claim that can be corrected today and one that goes back into a queue.
Not every adjustment carries a RARC, and a claim line can carry several. Denial work reads the whole set on the line, not the first code returned.
Commonly confused with
- CARC: The CARC carries the adjustment reason and the financial group code. A supplemental RARC explains it further; an informational RARC (“Alert:”) carries no adjustment at all.