New Medicare Card: HICN Claims Reject January 1, 2020

Starting January 1, 2020, you must use Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers (MBIs) when billing Medicare regardless of the date of service. We will reject claims you submit with the Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN), with a few exceptions and reject all eligibility transactions. The transition period during which they system accepts both HICNs and MBIs ends on December 31, 2019.

Protect your patients' identities by using the MBI now. See the CMS Medicare Learning Network (MLN) Matters Article New MBI: Get  It, Use It (PDF, 213 KB) for other helpful information, such as how to get the MBI, and what to do if an MBI changes.

• Ask your patient for their card. If they did not get a new card, give them the Get Your New Medicare Card flyer in English (PDF, 564 KB) or Spanish (PDF, 576 KB).
• Use your Medicare Administrative Contractor’s look up tool. Sign up (PDF, 104 KB) for the Portal to use the tool.
• Check the remittance advice. We return the MBI on the remittance advice for every claim with a valid and active HICN.

For more information, see the MLN Matters Article (PDF, 213 KB).