The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is preparing for a fraud prevention project that removes Social Security Numbers from Medicare cards to help combat identity theft and safeguard taxpayer dollars. CMS will be removing the SSN and replacing it with an alpha-numeric number. Alpha-numeric is considered more “safe.”
Starting in April 2018, CMS will begin mailing beneficiaries the new cards with the new Medicare Beneficiary Identifier, the new Medicare number. CMS expects mailing to be complete by April 2019.
What do you need to do/know?
- Your systems and business processes must be ready to accept the new MBI number to exchange data and information with Medicare by April 1, 2018.
- April 1, 2018 through Dec. 31, 2019 is the transition period whereby your systems should accept either the current health insurance claim number or the MBI.
- Communicate with your patients in preferred language, and in familiar terms, about the change. It is important for patients to understand that their card may arrive at a different time than their friend’s or neighbor’s card.
To help find information quickly, CMS designed a
new homepage linking you to the latest information, including how to
talk to your Medicare patients about the new Medicare cards.