CMS will begin mailing new Medicare ID cards to more than 57.7 million beneficiaries next April to meet the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act deadline to remove Social Security numbers from the cards.
The initiative is intended to "protect our seniors from fraudulent use of Social Security numbers which can lead to identity theft and illegal use of Medicare benefits," said CMS Administrator Seema Verma.
Here are three things to know about how the initiative affects providers.
1. The agency has until April 2019 to replace the Social Security-based health insurance claim number with a randomly-assigned 11-character Medicare beneficiary identifier comprised of numbers and uppercase letters.
2. Providers will be able to use either the MBI or the HICN during a 21-month transition period. Providers have until Dec. 31, 2019, to transition to the MBI for billing and other Medicare transactions.
3. CMS launched an outreach campaign to help providers prepare for the new MBI. The agency said it will update providers about the process through regular calls before and after the IDs are distributed. Search tools will be available for providers and beneficiaries to access the MBI.