Traditional MedicareAdministrativeHigh impact
New Medicare Beneficiary Identifier
Wisconsin Medicaid (ForwardHealth)·WI·Medical Policy
Effective date
Apr 1, 2018
We identified it
Jun 20, 2026
Summary
Medicare is transitioning from Social Security-based Health Insurance Claim Numbers (HICN) to new Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers (MBI) to reduce identity theft risk. During the transition period from April 1, 2018 through December 31, 2019, billing teams can submit claims using either HICN or MBI, but after January 1, 2020, only MBI will be accepted.
Action Required
By January 1, 2020: Billing team must update all systems to use Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers (MBI) instead of HICN numbers on all claim submissions including 837 transactions, HMO encounters, and NCPDP D.0 transactions. Update eligibility verification processes through EVS, Portal, and WiCall to handle both HICN and MBI during transition period. Train staff to accept new Medicare cards with MBI format (11 alphanumeric characters with letters in positions 2, 5, 8, and 9). Do not disclose MBI numbers to patients. Claims submitted with HICN after January 1, 2020 will be rejected.