Over the last several months, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has informed Medicare recipients that new cards would be coming soon. The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) requires CMS to remove Social Security Numbers (SSN) from all Medicare cards by April 2019.
A new, randomly generated Medicare Beneficiary Identifier, or MBI, is replacing the SSN-based Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN). Starting in April this year, the cards are being mailed out in phases by geographic location – distribution will continue over a period of several months. The new cards will have the recipients MBI.
The new card can be used by providers once the Medicare recipient has it, and it must be used by all recipients and all providers when the transition period ends on Dec. 31, 2019. Please visit the Medicare Learning Network for more detailed information.
