Spring 2018
The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015, requires that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) remove Social Security Numbers (SSNs) from all Medicare cards by April 2019. A new Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) will replace the SSN-based Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) on new Medicare cards which will be issued to Rhode Island beneficiaries beginning June 2018.
If you have a patient who is a member of Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island’s Medicare-Medicaid Plan, INTEGRITY, please know that their member identification cards will not change. Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island’s member identification card numbers are uniquely assigned and will not contain the new MBI numbers.
CMS has designated a Provider Ombudsman for the New Medicare Card project to serve as an additional resource for the provider community and to learn of implementation problems experienced by clinicians, hospitals, suppliers and other providers.
- To reach the Ombudsman, contact: NMCProviderQuestions@cms.hhs.gov
There are materials to assist you in educating members of the New Medicare Card. This information can be found on the CMS web site via the following link: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/New-Medicare-Card/Providers/Providers.html In addition, the Medicare Learning Network® offers free educational materials to health care professionals via: https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNGenInfo/Index.html