Why is CMS issuing new Medicare cards with alpha-numeric numbers? The law requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to remove Social Security Numbers (SSNs) from all Medicare cards by April 2019. New, unique Medicare numbers (Medicare Beneficiary Number or MBI) will be replacing the current Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) on the new Medicare cards. Medicare is taking this step to protect people with Medicare from fraudulent use of SSNs, which can lead to identity theft and illegal use of Medicare benefits. This means that Medicare patients will no longer be required to give providers their social security numbers.
These new, 11 digit alpha numerical MBI numbers are being randomly generated and linked with each patient account. Below are a list of characteristics this number will have.
->MBIs are numbers and upper-case letters.
->They will be using numbers 0-9 and all letters from A to Z, except for S, L, O, I, B, and Z in order to help make the characters easier to read.
How will the MBI look on the new card?
->The MBI will contain letters and numbers.
->Here’s an example: 1EG4-TE5-MK73
->The MBI’s 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 9th characters will always be a letter
->Characters 1, 4, 7, 10, and 11 will always be a number
->The 3rd and 6th characters will be a letter or a number
These simple guidelines may help if there is ever a question as to what the card says.
These MBI numbers will still be billed the same way the HICN numbers were, without spaces or dashes. During the transition period, until December 2019, either number will be accepted. Submitting both numbers on the same transaction, however, will not be allowed and may result in a denied claim.
If a patient has not brought in their new card before the deadline, Medicare has created an online lookup tool in the provider portal that makes it easy to use the old HICN number to pull up the new MBI number. Medicare is also helping with the transition out by sending EOBs that include BOTH the HICN and MBI numbers regardless of which one was used in submission. This will make it easy to update patient accounts with the new numbers. Remove this whole paragraph! Not necessary.
Medicare began mailing out these new cards as of April 2018. According to Medicare all Illinois Medicare recipients’ new cards have been mailed out. Medicare will accept the old ID numbers until December, 2019. This may seem like more than enough time to gather the new numbers, but we all know how fast time can go. It is important to continue to ask all Medicare patients if they have provided their MBI number to allow for a smooth transition.
Happy Billing!
References:
CMS.gov. 2018 August. What do the new medicare cards mean for healthcare providers and office managers? https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/New-Medicare-Card/Providers/Providers-and-office-managers.html
Medicare Learning network. 2018, July. Transition to new Medicare Numbers and Cards. https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNProducts/Downloads/MedicareCard-FactSheet-TextOnly-909365.pdf
These new, 11 digit alpha numerical MBI numbers are being randomly generated and linked with each patient account. Below are a list of characteristics this number will have.
->MBIs are numbers and upper-case letters.
->They will be using numbers 0-9 and all letters from A to Z, except for S, L, O, I, B, and Z in order to help make the characters easier to read.
How will the MBI look on the new card?
->The MBI will contain letters and numbers.
->Here’s an example: 1EG4-TE5-MK73
->The MBI’s 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 9th characters will always be a letter
->Characters 1, 4, 7, 10, and 11 will always be a number
->The 3rd and 6th characters will be a letter or a number
These simple guidelines may help if there is ever a question as to what the card says.
These MBI numbers will still be billed the same way the HICN numbers were, without spaces or dashes. During the transition period, until December 2019, either number will be accepted. Submitting both numbers on the same transaction, however, will not be allowed and may result in a denied claim.
If a patient has not brought in their new card before the deadline, Medicare has created an online lookup tool in the provider portal that makes it easy to use the old HICN number to pull up the new MBI number. Medicare is also helping with the transition out by sending EOBs that include BOTH the HICN and MBI numbers regardless of which one was used in submission. This will make it easy to update patient accounts with the new numbers. Remove this whole paragraph! Not necessary.
Medicare began mailing out these new cards as of April 2018. According to Medicare all Illinois Medicare recipients’ new cards have been mailed out. Medicare will accept the old ID numbers until December, 2019. This may seem like more than enough time to gather the new numbers, but we all know how fast time can go. It is important to continue to ask all Medicare patients if they have provided their MBI number to allow for a smooth transition.
Happy Billing!
References:
CMS.gov. 2018 August. What do the new medicare cards mean for healthcare providers and office managers? https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/New-Medicare-Card/Providers/Providers-and-office-managers.html
Medicare Learning network. 2018, July. Transition to new Medicare Numbers and Cards. https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNProducts/Downloads/MedicareCard-FactSheet-TextOnly-909365.pdf