CMS Reveals New Medicare Card Design; Strengthens Fraud Protections

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has redesigned its Medicare card to remove Social Security numbers and use a unique, randomly-assigned number in an effort to better protect users from identity theft and fraud.

CMS will begin mailing the new cards to people with Medicare benefits in April 2018 to meet the statutory deadline for replacing all existing Medicare cards by April 2019. People with Medicare will also be able to see the design of the new Medicare card in the 2018 Medicare & You Handbook. The handbooks are being mailed and will arrive throughout September.

“The goal of the initiative to remove Social Security numbers from Medicare cards is to help prevent fraud, combat identify theft, and safeguard taxpayer dollars,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “We’re very excited to share the new design.”

CMS has assigned all people with Medicare benefits a new, unique Medicare number, which contains a combination of numbers and uppercase letters. People with Medicare will receive a new Medicare card in the mail, and will be instructed to safely and securely destroy their current Medicare card and keep their new Medicare number confidential. Issuance of the new number will not change benefits that people with Medicare receive.

Health care providers and people with Medicare will be able to use secure look-up tools that will allow quick access to the new Medicare numbers when needed. There will also be a 21-month transition period where doctors, health care providers, and suppliers will be able to use either their current SSN-based Medicare Number or their new, unique Medicare number, to ease the transition.

This initiative takes important steps towards protecting the identities of people with Medicare. CMS is also working with healthcare providers to answer their questions and ensure that they have the information they need to make a successful transition to the new Medicare number. For more information, please visit: www.cms.gov/newcard.

How can providers get ready for the changes?

• Ask your billing and office staff if your system can accept the new 11-digit alphanumeric Medicare Beneficiary Identifier or
• If your system cannot accept the new number, system changes should be made by April 2018
• If providers use vendors to bill Medicare, ask them about their MBI practice management system changes and make sure they are ready for the change
• Verify your patients’ addresses: If the address you have on file is different than the address you get in electronic eligibility transaction responses, ask your patients to contact Social Security and update their Medicare records. This may require coordination between your billing and office staff.

For more information go to https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/New-Medicare-Card/Providers/Providers.html