Effective December 31, 2019, the transition period for the new Medicare card will end. As previously communicated in a Partners in Health UpdateSM article, from April 2018 through April 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued new cards to existing Medicare beneficiaries that contained a new unique ID number, the Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI). Currently, only new Medicare beneficiaries, or those needing replacement cards, should be receiving new cards with the MBI. The MBI is 11 characters in length and is a combination of numbers and uppercase letters.
Independence encourages all providers to:
- protect their patients’ identities by using the new MBI;
- provide handouts to direct patients who did not receive a new card to visit MyMedicare.gov or call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227
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).
Submitting claims
Please note that the new Medicare cards do not replace the Medicare Advantage or Medicare Supplement (Medigap) ID cards issued by Independence. Providers should continue to submit claims using the Independence-issued ID number for their Medicare Advantage patients. Claims for members in a Medicare Supplement plan are typically forwarded to health insurers from Original Medicare.
Learn more
CMS offers educational material to assist you in answering questions from your Medicare patients about the new Medicare cards. To view and download material for your office, please visit the CMS website.