The FT1 segment carries a single financial transaction - a charge, payment, or adjustment - for a patient account. It records the transaction code and amount, quantity, the performing and ordering providers, and links to the diagnosis and procedure that justify the charge. FT1 is the workhorse of the DFT (Detailed Financial Transaction) message.
Purpose
FT1 communicates one billable event: what was charged (FT1-7 Transaction Code), how much (FT1-11/FT1-12 amounts), how many (FT1-10), and the clinical justification (FT1-19 diagnosis, FT1-25 procedure). Multiple FT1 segments itemize an encounter's charges.
Used in
FT1 appears in financial messages: DFT (detailed financial transactions) and BAR (add/change billing account). See DFT.
Field-by-field reference
Source: HAPI HL7v2 v2.5.1 javadocs (FT1) for sequence, name, and data type. Length is not published in the javadocs (-); Required and Table # are filled from the HL7 v2.5.1 standard where well-established.
| Seq | Name | Data Type | Length | Req | Repeat | Table # | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FT1-1 | Set ID - FT1 | SI | - | O | - | - | Sequence number. |
| FT1-2 | Transaction ID | ST | - | O | - | - | Transaction identifier. |
| FT1-3 | Transaction Batch ID | ST | - | O | - | - | Batch identifier. |
| FT1-4 | Transaction Date | DR | - | R | - | - | Date/period of the transaction. |
| FT1-5 | Transaction Posting Date | TS | - | O | - | - | Posting date. |
| FT1-6 | Transaction Type | IS | - | R | - | HL70017 | Charge, payment, adjustment, etc. |
| FT1-7 | Transaction Code | CE | - | R | - | HL70132 | The charge/service code. |
| FT1-8 | Transaction Description | ST | - | O | - | - | Description. |
| FT1-9 | Transaction Description - Alt | ST | - | O | - | - | Alternate description. |
| FT1-10 | Transaction Quantity | NM | - | O | - | - | Quantity. |
| FT1-11 | Transaction Amount - Extended | CP | - | O | - | - | Extended amount. |
| FT1-12 | Transaction Amount - Unit | CP | - | O | - | - | Unit amount. |
| FT1-13 | Department Code | CE | - | O | - | HL70049 | Department. |
| FT1-14 | Insurance Plan ID | CE | - | O | - | HL70072 | Insurance plan. |
| FT1-15 | Insurance Amount | CP | - | O | - | - | Insurance amount. |
| FT1-16 | Assigned Patient Location | PL | - | O | - | - | Patient location. |
| FT1-17 | Fee Schedule | IS | - | O | - | HL70024 | Fee schedule. |
| FT1-18 | Patient Type | IS | - | O | - | HL70018 | Patient type. |
| FT1-19 | Diagnosis Code - FT1 | CE | - | O | Y | HL70051 | Diagnosis justifying the charge. |
| FT1-20 | Performed By Code | XCN | - | O | Y | - | Performing provider. |
| FT1-21 | Ordered By Code | XCN | - | O | Y | - | Ordering provider. |
| FT1-22 | Unit Cost | CP | - | O | - | - | Unit cost. |
| FT1-23 | Filler Order Number | EI | - | O | - | - | Filler order number. |
| FT1-24 | Entered By Code | XCN | - | O | Y | - | Who entered the transaction. |
| FT1-25 | Procedure Code | CE | - | O | - | HL70088 | Procedure (CPT) code. |
| FT1-26 | Procedure Code Modifier | CE | - | O | Y | HL70340 | Procedure modifier. |
| FT1-27 | Advanced Beneficiary Notice Code | CE | - | O | - | HL70339 | ABN code. |
| FT1-28 | Medically Necessary Duplicate Procedure Reason | CWE | - | O | - | HL70476 | Duplicate procedure reason. |
| FT1-29 | NDC Code | CNE | - | O | - | - | National Drug Code. |
| FT1-30 | Payment Reference ID | CX | - | O | - | - | Payment reference. |
| FT1-31 | Transaction Reference Key | SI | - | O | Y | - | Links related transactions. |
Most-used fields
- FT1-7 Transaction Code is the charge/service being billed; FT1-6 classifies it (charge vs payment vs adjustment).
- FT1-11 Transaction Amount - Extended and FT1-10 Quantity drive the billed total.
- FT1-19 Diagnosis and FT1-25 Procedure provide the clinical justification payers require.
Version differences (2.3 to 2.8.2)
- 2.4/2.5: FT1-25 onward (procedure code, modifiers, ABN, NDC) added for US billing.
- Coded fields migrate from
CEtowardCWE/CNEin later versions.
Common mistakes
- Misreading FT1-6 and posting a payment as a charge.
- Dropping repeating FT1-19 diagnoses needed for claim adjudication.
- Treating FT1-11 (extended) and FT1-12 (unit) amounts interchangeably.
Examples
Minimal valid FT1:
FT1|1|||20260610||CG|99213^Office Visit^CPT
Fully-populated FT1:
FT1|1|TX5567||20260610|20260610|CG|99213^Office Visit^CPT|Office Visit|||1|150.00|150.00|||||||E11.9^Type 2 diabetes^I10|1234^SMITH^JANE^^^^MD|||99213^Office Visit^CPT
Annotated breakdown of the fully-populated example (selected fields):
FT1 ← segment ID
1 ← FT1-1 Set ID
20260610 ← FT1-4 Transaction Date
CG ← FT1-6 Transaction Type (Charge)
99213^Office Visit^CPT ← FT1-7 Transaction Code
1 ← FT1-10 Quantity
150.00 ← FT1-11 Transaction Amount - Extended
E11.9^Type 2 diabetes^I10 ← FT1-19 Diagnosis Code
1234^SMITH^JANE^^^^MD ← FT1-20 Performed By Code
In-context inside a DFT^P03 (financial transaction):
MSH|^~&|ADT|MERCYGEN|FIN|MERCYGEN|20260610120000||DFT^P03^DFT_P03|MSG903|P|2.5.1
PID|1||MR12345^^^MERCYGEN^MR||DOE^JOHN^Q||19800101|M
PV1|1|O|CLINIC
FT1|1||||20260610|20260610|CG|99213^Office Visit^CPT||||1|150.00
In-context inside a BAR^P01 (add account with charges):
MSH|^~&|ADT|MERCYGEN|FIN|MERCYGEN|20260610120500||BAR^P01^BAR_P01|MSG904|P|2.5.1
PID|1||MR12345^^^MERCYGEN^MR||DOE^JOHN^Q||19800101|M
FT1|1||||20260610|20260610|CG|85025^CBC^CPT||||1|25.00
FHIR mapping
No segment-level ConceptMap is published in the v2-to-FHIR IG for FT1. Conceptually a financial transaction maps to ChargeItem (with Account and, for adjudication, Claim/ClaimResponse); implementations define this locally.
Engine considerations
- Required in practice: FT1-4, FT1-6, FT1-7; billing also needs amounts and diagnosis/procedure.
- Preserve repeating diagnosis (FT1-19) and modifier (FT1-26) fields.
- Use FT1-6 transaction type to route charges, payments, and adjustments correctly.
How Vorro parses and produces FT1
Vorro classifies each FT1 by transaction type, preserves repeating diagnosis and modifier fields, and maps charges to ChargeItem with the procedure/diagnosis context intact on the FHIR side.
Related pages
- GT1 - the guarantor responsible for the charges.
- IN1 - insurance coverage applied to the transaction.
- DFT messages - the financial message FT1 heads.
