Starting January 1, 2020, you MUST submit Medicare claims using the Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) (with very few exceptions), no matter what date you performed the service. The transition period, where you could use either the old SSN-based Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) or the new MBI to exchange data with Medicare ended December 31, 2019.

The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015 required CMS to remove Social Security Numbers (SSNs) from all Medicare cards. Starting in 2018, a new Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) has replaced the SSN-based HICN on the new Medicare cards for all Medicare transactions including billing, eligibility status, and claim status. The new MBI is 11 characters in length and made up of only numbers and uppercase letters (no special characters). An example of the new format is 1EG4-TE5-MK72. Each MBI is unique, randomly generated, and the characters are "non-intelligent," which means they don't have any hidden or special meaning.

People with Medicare who belong to a Medicare Advantage plan or a Medicare drug plan (Part D) should keep using their Medicare Advantage and/or Medicare drug plan cards like they always have when they get health care services or fill a prescription.

As with the old HCIN, the new MBI should be entered into the Member ID field on the ProviderSuite Patient Demographics screen (Billing > Patients > Insurance).

Click here to learn more about this deadline and if any of the exceptions apply to your claims.