X12 276/277 Reference

What Is X12 276/277 STC02? Status Information Effective Date, Explained for Testers

Jul 27, 2026 · 4 min read

STC02 answers a question that matters more than it looks like it should: when did this status become true, not when did the payer happen to generate this response. Confuse the two in test data and a status-history timeline ends up sorted in the wrong order.

Quick answer

STC02 (Status Information Effective Date) is the date, in CCYYMMDD format, that the status reported in STC01 actually took effect at the payer — not the date the 277 transaction itself was created or transmitted.

What this element contains

Format

CCYYMMDD — an eight-digit date with no separators, e.g. 20260728

Meaning

Effective date of the status — when the payer applied this status, which can predate the 277 itself

Repeats

One per STC segment — a claim with multiple status updates over time will carry a different STC02 on each 277

Example

Synthetic example Generated by Synthibase

STC*F1:1:PR*20260728**450.00

STC02 (20260728) is the date the payer finalized this claim status, which may differ from the date this 277 was actually sent. Synthetic status data.

Where this trips people up

It's common for a status-history feature to sort claim events by the date the 277 file arrived rather than by STC02, on the assumption the two are basically the same thing. They frequently are not — payers batch and retransmit status updates, and a 277 received today can carry an STC02 from several days earlier. Test data that never varies STC02 independently of the transmission date leaves that sorting bug undetected until a real batch delay exposes it.

→

X12 276/277 STC Segment Guide: Fields, Format, and Testing Gotchas

→

EDI 277 Claim Status: Format and Testing Guide

→

How to Reduce Claim Denials Through Better Pre-Submission Testing

Test status timelines with realistic date variation

Synthibase generates synthetic 277 sequences where the status effective date and the transmission date can diverge, so your status-history sorting logic gets tested against the timing payers actually produce.

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