Beginning January 1, 2020
Claims submitted without the new Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) number, regardless of date of service, will be rejected by Medicare. Up to this point Medicare has accepted both the HCIN’s and the new MBI number for claim processing of Medicare and Medicaid recipients. Physicians, suppliers and providers should already be well into the process of preparing for this change by having a plan in place to update your patient’s policy numbers. If they don’t have or know their assigned MBIs, CMS has tools in place that will allow you to look up the new Medicare number.
In our blog last year entitled Medicare and Medicaid issue new Medicare Cards, we brought awareness to CMS’s decision to move away from medical cards that include SSN’s and their move to start using Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers (MBIs). That blog focused on when the new cards with MBIs would be issued to Medicare recipients. With the effective date now being right around the corner, here are just a few additional facts to note:
• CMS has tools available today that allows you to look up the new Medicare number even if the patient doesn’t have the card with them.
• Medicare is returning the new Medicare number in your Remittance Advice today even if your claim included the SSN. Look for CARC 16 along with RARC N382
• Review your system options to enable an edit to stop the claims with incorrect format from leaving your system after Jan 1, 2020.
• When updating the Medicare number in your system these are important to remember
• Do not enter the number with hyphens or spaces
• The letters S, L, O, I, B and Z will never be in a policy number
For more detailed information on who is specifically affected and how and to fully understand possible rejection codes, click here. Be sure to get these changes done before it’s too late and avoid the headaches that comes with front desk error issues when collecting insurance information and claim rejections.
