New Medicare Card: Transition Period Ends in Less Than 4 Month

Starting January 1, 2020, you must use Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers (MBIs):

• We will reject claims you submit with Health Insurance Claim Numbers (HICNs) with a few exceptions
• We will reject all eligibility transactions you submit with HICNs

Many providers are using the MBI for Medicare transactions. For the week ending August 30, providers submitted 79% of fee-for-service claims with the MBI. Protect your patients’ identities by using MBIs now for all Medicare transactions. Don’t have an MBI?

• Ask your patients for their cards. If they did not get a new card, give them the Get Your New Medicare Card flyer in English or Spanish.
• Use your Medicare Administrative Contractor’s look-up tool. Sign up for the Portal to use the tool.
• Check the remittance advice. We return the MBI on the remittance advice for every claim with a valid and active HICN.

For more information, see the MLN Matters Article.

https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Outreach/FFSProvPartProg/Provider-Partnership-Email-Archive-Items/2019-09-12-eNews.html?DLPage=1&DLEntries=10&DLSort=0&DLSortDir=descending#_Toc19082533