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August 25, 2017

Tribal Health Providers, Are You Ready For The New Medicare Cards?

The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015 requires CMS to remove social security numbers (SSN) from all Medicare cards by April 2019. Starting in April 2018, CMS will issue new cards with Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers (MBI). MBIs are randomly generated numbers that do not include SSNs. Beginning in January 2018, CMS will also conduct intensive education and outreach to Medicare beneficiaries about the upcoming changes to Medicare beneficiary cards.

 

Below are five things Tribal and Urban Health providers need to do to get ready for the new Medicare card:

  1. Go to our provider website and sign-up for the weekly MLN Connects® newsletter.
  2. Attend our quarterly calls to get more information. We’ll let you know when calls are scheduled in the MLN Connects newsletter.
  3. Verify all of your Medicare patients’ addresses. If the addresses you have on file are different than the Medicare address you get on electronic eligibility transactions, ask your patients to contact Social Security and update their Medicare records.
  4. Work with us to help your Medicare patients adjust to their new Medicare card. When available later this fall, you can display helpful information about the new Medicare cards. Hang posters about the change in your offices to help us spread the word.
  5. Test your system changes and work with your billing office staff to be sure your office is ready to use the new MBI format.

New Medicare Card