The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has started mailing new ID cards to Medicare patients who live in Texas.
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The mailing will take “at least” a month to complete, CMS said.
Remember, you can use either the old Social Security number-based Health Insurance Claim Number or the new alpha-numeric Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (the “MBI” that appears on the new cards) for all Medicare transactions through Dec. 31, 2019. See the CMS Transition to New Medicare Numbers and Cards fact sheet for details.
Note also that the MBI uses numbers 0-9 and uppercase letters except for S, L, O, I, B, and Z. CMS excluded these letters to avoid confusion when differentiating some letters and numbers (e.g., between “0” and “O”).
If any of your Medicare patients say they didn’t get a card after a few weeks, ask them to:
- Log on to MyMedicare.gov to see if CMS mailed their card. If so, they can print an official card. They must create an account if they do not already have one.
- Call 1-800-MEDICARE or (800) 633-4227. Something might need correcting, such as a mailing address.
You too can print out and give patients a copy of Still Waiting for Your New Card?, which has the above information. Medicare patients also can sign up at www.medicare.gov/NewCard to receive an email when their card is in the mail.
For more information from CMS about the new cards, see:
Visit www.texmed.org/Medicare for more Medicare news and information.
Last Updated On
September 27, 2018
Originally Published On
September 21, 2018