This blog was written by Marcy Marquis, CRCP-P. Marcy currently
serves as the President of the Wisconsin AAHAM Chapter. She is a member
of the Professional Certification Committee and contributes to the work
that Certification performs.
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As many of us know, CMS is in the
process of sending out new Medicare cards with the new ID numbers. Why
is CMS issuing new Medicare cards and new Medicare numbers? The law
requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to
remove Social Security Numbers (SSNs) from all Medicare cards by April
2019. A new Medicare number will replace the current Health Insurance
Claim Number (HICN) on the new Medicare cards. CMS 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. CMS will start to send the new cards to people with Medicare. The mailings started in April of 2018. Patients
who are new to the Medicare program starting in April 2018 and later
will only have a card with the new Medicare number. As a facility, your
practice management software and business processes must be ready to
accept the new Medicare number (which we call the Medicare Beneficiary
Identifier or MBI in official guidance) by April 2018 for transactions,
such as billing, claim status, eligibility status, and interactions,
with our Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) contact centers. There
will be a transition period when you can use either the HICN or the MBI
to exchange information. The transition period is from April 1, 2018 to December 31, 2019.
Please watch the CMS website for up to the date information. CMS also has a schedule for the mails by state.