How do I file secondary claims correctly?
A secondary claim is filed to the second payer after the primary pays, and it must include the primary's payment details — the primary EOB/835 with its adjustments — or it denies for missing coordination-of-benefits information. The two things that break secondary claims are wrong COB order and not attaching the primary's remittance, and both leave real money uncollected because the secondary balance quietly goes unworked.
What actually matters
- Confirm coordination-of-benefits order up front — which plan is primary — before you bill anyone
- File to secondary only after the primary adjudicates, and include the primary's payment and adjustment detail (the 835/EOB data)
- Send electronically with the primary remittance attached; missing COB info is the top secondary-denial reason
- Watch the secondary's own timely-filing clock — it often starts from the primary's remittance date
- Work secondary balances deliberately; they're small individually and easy to abandon, which is exactly why they leak
Common questions
Why do secondary claims get denied?
Most often for missing coordination-of-benefits information — the secondary payer needs the primary's payment and adjustment detail, and without the primary EOB/835 attached, it can't process the claim. Wrong primary/secondary order is the other common cause.
When do I file the secondary claim?
After the primary payer adjudicates, using the primary's remittance. Watch the secondary payer's timely-filing window, which often runs from the primary's remittance date, so a slow primary can eat into your secondary filing time.
Where Volari fits: Unworked secondary balances are small-dollar claims that leak because chasing each by hand isn't worth it — the same economics as the denial pile Volari is built to recover.
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