In April, CMS begins mailing new Medicare cards to all Medicare beneficiaries in phases based on geographic location and other factors. This marks the beginning of a transition period lasting until December 31, 2019, during which time CMS will accept and monitor transitions using both the old SSN-based Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) and the new Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI), which will eventually replace the HICN on all transactions.
Starting January 1, 2020, CMS will accept only claims using MBIs (with a few exceptions), regardless of service date.
How to Bill Using the New MBI in NextGen
NextGen® Enterprise PM (formerly known as NextGen® Practice Management software) is ready to accept the newly formatted MBI. If you have a “Policy Number” Format attached to “Medicare Payers” in your NextGen® system, you will want to update for the new format before entering the new MBI in “Insurance Maintenance”.
To provide an overview of the CMS Medicare card initiative and tips within your NextGen system, our experts will be holding four (4) educational webinars through April 5, 2018. Click here to register and reserve your spot.
You can also learn more about the new Medicare cards on the CMS website here and here.