New Medicare Cards Required to Fight Identity Theft

2/2/2018 - By Claudia Reingruber, CPA

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

A new Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) will replace the SSN-based Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) on the new Medicare cards.

Why are the new Medicare cards important? 

  • The biggest reason is to fight medical identity theft.

What is the timeline for the new Medicare cards and how will you be affected? 

  • Transition period will begin no earlier than April 1, 2018 and run through December 31, 2019.
  • During the transition period, the use of HICNs and MBIs will be monitored to see how many are ready to use only MBIs by January 2020.

Our team of experienced healthcare consultants at Saltmarsh can help you:

  • Review your practice management systems and business processes and assist you in determining what changes should be made to use the new MBI.
  • Assist your billing and office staff on how to sign up and use the provider online tools.

Questions?

If you have questions about the information in this ALERT, please don't hesitate to reach out to a member of our Healthcare team.

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