12/31 Old HICNs Valid for Only Six More Months

There are only six months to go on the transition to the New Medicare Card.  To help prevent identity theft, the New Card removes a patient’s Social Security Number from their Card and replaces it with a new, randomly-assigned “Medicare Beneficiary Identifier” or MBI.  MBIs must be protected as confidential PII.  All patients should have received their new card by now, barring mailing address problems.  After December 31, 2019 billing with the old “Health Insurance Claim Number” or HICN will be disallowed.  If your facility has patients that don’t have a New Card, refer to https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNMattersArticles/Downloads/SE18006.pdf for instructions.  Railroad Retirement Board Medicare cards are going through a parallel transition.

New Medicare Cards Delivered

When you get your new Medicare card, destroy your old red-white-and-blue Medicare card, but do not destroy your Social Security card, Medicare Advantage plan card, or drug plan cards.  If you belong to a Medicare Advantage plan or a Medicare drug plan (Part D), continue to use these cards when you get health care services or fill a prescription.  Dispose of your old Medicare card carefully, as it contains Personally Identifiable Information (PII) that can be used for identity theft.  Your dialysis facility will probably have a shredder if you don’t.  New Medicare Cards, and your Medicare Beneficiary Identifier on it, are also confidential PII that should be closely guarded.

New Medicare cards have been mailed to all Network 16 and 18 patients.  If you haven’t received yours, call 1-800-MEDICARE.  Call center representatives can check the status and help you get your new card.  Meanwhile, use your current Medicare card to get health care services.  While your old card will be good through the end of 2019, you want to get and use your new card as soon as you can.

NMC Mailings to WA, ID, MT

CMS has begun mailing New Medicare Cards to beneficiaries in Washington, Idaho, and Montana.  Mailings are already complete to California, Oregon, and Alaska.  For more information see:

• https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/New-Medicare-Card/Outreach-and-Education/Tear-Off-for-After-Card-Mailing-Ends.pdf
• https://www.cms.gov/medicare/new-medicare-card/nmc-home.html,
• https://www.medicare.gov/NewCard
• https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNProducts/Downloads/TransitiontoNewMedicareNumbersandCards-909365.pdf

9/13 New Medicare Card ODF Call

CMS has announced that they will hold a 13 September 2018 Open Door Forum on the New Medicare Card.  For forthcoming details keep an eye on https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Outreach/OpenDoorForums/ODF_NewMedicareCard.html.

New Medicare Card News

New Medicare Card (NMC) mailings to Alaska, California, and Oregon have been completed.  Anyone in those states who did not get a new card, should print a Still Waiting for Your New Card? handout from:

• English – https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/New-Medicare-Card/Outreach-and-Education/Tear-Off-for-After-Card-Mailing-Ends.pdf.
• Spanish – https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/New-Medicare-Card/Outreach-and-Education/Tear-Off-for-After-Card-Mailing-Ends-Spanish.pdf.

And then either:

• Sign into https://www.mymedicare.gov/ to see if their card has been mailed.  If so, they can print an official card.  If they do not already have an account, they need to create one.
• Call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).  There might be something that needs to be corrected, such as updating their mailing address.

Mailings to Idaho, Montana, and Washington will not begin till August at the earliest, and probably considerably later.  CMS is committed to mailing new cards to everyone with Medicare by April 2019.  Until December 31, 2019 health care providers and suppliers can use either the former SSN-based HIC Number, OR the alpha-numeric MBI (Medicare Beneficiary Identifier) on the new cards, for all Medicare transactions.

Additional resources:

• NMC Mailing Strategy: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/New-Medicare-Card/NMC-Mailing-Strategy.pdf.
• Mailing Status: https://www.medicare.gov/NewCard/.
• NMC information website: https://www.cms.gov/medicare/new-medicare-card/nmc-home.html.
• NMC backstory: https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNProducts/Downloads/TransitiontoNewMedicareNumbersandCards-909365.pdf.
• MLN Matters document on MBI: https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNMattersArticles/Downloads/SE18006.pdf.

MLN Matters re MBI revised

The CMS MLN Matters document on New Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI): Get It, Use It has recently been revised, but the only change is the addition of the information (on page 2) that the MBI does not use the letters S, L, O, I, B, or Z in order to avoid confusion with similarly-shaped numbers.

New Medicare Card News

The CMS New Medicare Card (NMC) web page at https://www.medicare.gov/newcard/ keeps an ongoing tally of NMC mailings.  It shows that mailings are now underway for California, Oregon, and Alaska, but have not yet started for other Network 16 states.  The page also includes a sample of the new card, important information about what a patient should do when they receive one in the mail, and important tips on avoiding Medicare scams.

For providers, CMS has also published information on when a Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI, which replaces the HICN on the card) can change, and what to do when it does.  Find a summary at https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Outreach/FFSProvPartProg/Provider-Partnership-Email-Archive-Items/2018-07-05-eNews.html?DLPage=1&DLEntries=10&DLSort=0&DLSortDir=descending#_Toc518370286.