New Medicare ID's

Beginning last month, Medicare has started mailing new Medicare cards with new Medicare numbers (hereafter referred to as an MBI, which is the acronym for Medicare Beneficiary Identifier).  However, beneficiaries are not all receiving their cards at same time because the mailing is phased between April 1st and June 30th, based on geographic location.

In the mailing, beneficiaries are instructed to let their providers know about their new MBI, so providers should expect an influx of patients bearing new Medicare cards and numbers. However, there are several other ways for providers to  obtain the new MBI when they don't yet have the number :

• The simplest and most direct method is to ask the patient for the number.
• Use CMS's MBI look-up tool, which is accessed via your Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC)'s provider  portal.. Note the tool will only provide an MPI after, and not before, the new Card gets mailed to the patient.
• Beginning October 1, 2018, the MBI will be posted on Remittance Advice(s) when a claim is submitted with the old Medicare claim number.

Note that there is a transition period from April 1, 2018 to December 31, 2019 where providers can submit claims using either the old Medicare Claim number or the new MBI. Beginning January 1, 2020, the gig is up and claims will be processed using the MBI only. Rexpert currently will accept either number format for processing Medicare claims.