New Medicare Card: If an MBI Changes
From CMS MLN Connects November 2019
Medicare beneficiaries or their authorized representatives can ask to change their Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers (MBIs); for example, if the MBI is compromised. CMS can also change an MBI. It is possible for your patient to seek care before getting a new card with the new MBI.
If you get an eligibility transaction error code (AAA 72) of “invalid member ID,” your patient’s MBI may have changed.
- Do a historic eligibility search to get the termination date of the old MBI.
- Get the new MBI from your Medicare Administrative Contractor’s secure MBI look-up tool. Sign up for the Portal to use the tool.
Reminders about using the old or new MBIs:
Fee-For-Service (FFS) claims submissions with:
- Dates of service before the MBI change date – use old or new MBIs
- Span-date claims with a “From Date” before the MBI change date – use old or new MBIs
- Dates of service that are entirely on or after the effective date of the MBI change – use new MBIs
FFS eligibility transactions when the:
- Inquiry uses new MBI – we will return all eligibility data.
- Inquiry uses the old MBI and request date or date range overlap the active period for the old MBI – we will return all eligibility data. We will also return the old MBI termination date.
- Inquiry uses the old MBI and request date or date range are entirely on or after the effective date of the new MBI – we will return an error code (AAA 72) of “invalid member ID.”
See the MLN Matters Article for more information on how to get and use MBIs.