Capabilities

Outcome

Each trading partner's capability set matches what the partner agreement authorizes — no more, no less — so the gateway never tries to send a transaction the partner cannot accept and never expects an inbound the partner does not produce.

Prerequisites

Scope	What it lets you do
edi.partner.read	View capabilities
edi.partner.write	Toggle capabilities

What is a capability

A capability is a (transaction_set_id, direction) pair the partner supports. Examples:

Capability	Meaning
837P outbound	We can submit professional claims to this partner.
837I outbound	We can submit institutional claims.
270 outbound / 271 inbound	Real-time eligibility round trip.
278 outbound / 278 inbound	Auth request / auth response.
276 outbound / 277 inbound	Claim status inquiry round trip.
277CA inbound	Claim acknowledgments.
999 inbound	Functional acknowledgments.
TA1 inbound	Interchange acknowledgments.
835 inbound	Remittance advice.
834 inbound	Member enrollment files.

A partner record without 277CA inbound will not produce 277CAs — the gateway expects them only from partners who advertise the capability.

Steps

1. Open the partner detail → Capabilities tab. The tab shows a grid: rows are transaction sets, columns are direction (outbound / inbound). Each cell is a checkbox.

2. Toggle capabilities to match the partner agreement. A common clearinghouse setup:

   	Outbound	Inbound
   837P	✓	—
   837I	✓	—
   999	—	✓
   TA1	—	✓
   277CA	—	✓
   835	—	✓

   A real-time eligibility partner:

   	Outbound	Inbound
   270	✓	—
   271	—	✓

   A direct state Medicaid partner often supports the full set including 278 and 834.

3. Save. Effects:

   • The Companion Guides tab now shows guide bindings for only the capabilities you enabled.
   • Outbound submission for a non-enabled capability returns 409 from the gateway with a capability_not_enabled reason.
   • The routing rules editor restricts the partner picker to partners whose capability set covers the rule's transaction.

Capability nuances

277CA vs 277

Both are 277 transactions. They differ in BHT02:

BHT02	Variant	Capability
08	277CA — Claim Acknowledgment	277CA inbound
00	277 — Claim Status Response	277 inbound

Some partners only acknowledge (277CA); some only respond to status inquiries (277); some do both. The gateway parses both via the same parser but routes them differently based on BHT02.

999 implementation level

The 999 has been the standard since 5010; pre-5010 partners used 997. The platform only emits 999 inbound; if a partner sends 997, parse it manually and contact the partner about upgrading.

TA1 inline vs separate file

TA1 can travel either inside the same interchange that triggered it or as a separate inbound. Most partners send it as a separate file. Capability TA1 inbound covers both.

Validation

Check	Expected
Capability toggle saves immediately	Yes.
Outbound for a disabled capability returns 409	Yes.
Companion Guides tab restricts to enabled transactions	Yes.
Inbound traffic for a disabled capability is dropped with a log warning	Yes — the file is stored as unprocessable_capability for forensics.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Outbound 837 returns "no capable partner"	Partner is enabled but 837P outbound capability is unchecked	Toggle the capability.
Inbound 835 dropped silently	835 inbound capability is unchecked	Enable; replay the dropped file from the unprocessable bucket.
Cannot bind a companion guide	Guide's transaction is not in the partner's capability set	Enable the capability, or pick a different guide.
Routing rule editor shows no eligible partner	None of your active partners has the capability for the rule's transaction	Enable on the right partner; or onboard a new one.

Next

2.5 — Probe & test connection