In order to prevent identity theft, Medicare will stop using patients’ social security numbers as part of their ID starting in 2018. Instead, all Medicare patients will be issued a new Medicare beneficiary identifier (MBI), and Medicare will start mailing out new cards with the new number in April of 2018. This means that starting next April, our offices should start asking Medicare enrollees for a copy of their new card and begin updating their software with the new ID numbers. Medicare plans to honor both ID numbers on claims until the end of 2019, after which they will only accept claims with the new MBIs. Please go to the CMS website for more information for providers about this upcoming change.
Go to https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/New-Medicare-Card/index.html.
