SSN to be replaced with MBI by CMS
SSN to be replaced with MBI! Now we have even more acronyms for us to remember!
- SSN = Social Security Number,
- MBI = Medicare Beneficiary Identifier,
- CMS = Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services,
- MACRA = Medicare Access and CHIP Re-authorization Act of 2015,
- HICN = Health Insurance Claim Number,
- SSA= Social Security Administration,
- RRB = United States Railroad Retirement Board
MACRA is an acronym for the Medicare Access and CHIP Re-authorization Act of 2015, legislation that brought about physician payment reform and inspired the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services? (CMS?) Quality Payment Program. And that SSN is an abbreviation for Social Security Number that controls our lives, and our livelihood. The Medicare Access and CHIP Re-authorization Act (MACRA) of 2015, requires us to remove Social Security Numbers (SSNs) from all Medicare cards by April 2019. A new randomly generated Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) will replace the SSN based Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) on the new Medicare cards for Medicare transactions like billing, eligibility status, and claim status.
We currently use an SSN-based HICN to identify people with Medicare and administer the program.
- The Social Security Administration (SSA)
- The United States Railroad Retirement Board (RRB)
- State Medicaid Agencies
- Health care providers
- Health plans
MBI stands for Medicare Beneficiary Identifier, a term born from MACRA and the Social Security Number Removal Initiative (SSNRI).
MACRA requires CMS to replace SSN based Health Insurance Claim Numbers (HICNs) for MBIs on all Medicare cards by April 2019. The MBIs, which will consist of 11 randomly-generated characters (numbers and uppercase letters), will be used for Medicare transactions such as billing, eligibility status, and claim status.
As with SSNs, each MBI is confidential and providers will need to safeguard these numbers, just as they do all protected health information.
CMS says it will begin issuing new cards featuring MBIs in April 2018, and Medicare beneficiaries may begin using them upon receipt. To allow providers and insurers time to update their systems to accommodate the new format, CMS will accept either HICNs or MBIs for data exchange between April 1, 2018 and Dec. 31, 2019.