New Medicare Card Project (formerly SSNRI) FAQs

A Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) will replace the SSN-based Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) on the new Medicare cards for Medicare transactions like billing, eligibility status, and claim status.

The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015 requires CMS to remove Social Security Numbers (SSNs) from all Medicare cards by April 2019.

CMS is also taking SSNs off of Medicare cards to prevent medical identity theft for people with Medicare.

Medicare claims will be billed to CMS with the new Medicare ID from the recipient's card once it is received. There will be a transition period where recipients can use either the HICN or the MBI to exchange data with CMS.

 

The transition period will begin April 1, 2018 at the latest and run through December 31, 2019. Starting January 1, 2020, Medicare claims have to be submitted using MBIs*, no matter what date the service was performed.

 

Medicaid claims will not be affected.

The MBI won’t change Medicare benefits. People with Medicare may start using their new Medicare cards and MBIs as soon as they are received.

 

The effective date of the new cards, like the old cards, is the date each beneficiary was or is eligible for Medicare.

 

Once beneficiaries get their new Medicare cards with an MBI, they can use their new cards to enroll in a Medicare health (Medicare Advantage) or drug plan. Those Medicare beneficiaries who do choose to enroll in Medicare health and/or drug plans will still also get an insurance card from their health and/or drug plans.

Beginning in April 2018, CMS will start mailing the new Medicare cards with the MBI to all people with Medicare in phases by geographic location. The change to MBIs won’t change how CMS finds non-active Medicare beneficiaries.

 

View this timeline of events leading up to the implementation of the new cards.

Please refer to https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/New-Medicare-Card/ for more information. Check back on the New Medicare Card page here on NCTracks, or on the CMS website for updates. You can also subscribe to the CMS email list for Medicare card updates.

The MBI will be:

• Clearly different than the HICN and RRB number
• 11-characters in length
• Made up only of numbers and uppercase letters (no special characters)

Learn about and use the MBI format specifications to make changes to your systems.

CMS will mail out the new card to the address the enrolled beneficiary has on file.

Beneficiaries can get information on the Medicare.gov website: https://www.medicare.gov/forms-help-and-resources/your-medicare-card.html