4/27/2018
From now through April 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will be sending out new Medicare ID cards. This card will replace the SSN-based Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) with a new Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI). The MBI numbers will have 11 characters and will be a mix of numbers and uppercase letters. The numbers are randomly generated and will not have any hidden or special meaning related to your private information.
Medicare recipients are encouraged to update their number with their providers; however, there will be a transition period through December 2019. Below is the timeline of activity from CMS
· April 2018 – April 2019: CMS will mail new Medicare ID cards to Medicare beneficiaries. The Medicare ID card will include the person’s new MBI.
· April 2018 – December 2019: CMS will accept both the HICN and the MBI on most transactions submitted. When CMS receives a transaction containing an HICN, CMS will send the beneficiary’s MBI so the plan can update its source system(s) to reflect the individual’s MBI.
· January 2020: CMS will no longer accept an individual’s HICN.
Visit this page for or more information from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
--Brian Grimmer