New Medicare Cards and MBI Rollout – Is your practice Ready? (Part 2)

We are all a week away from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rolling out new health identification cards to all Medicaid and Medicare recipients. The release of new MBIs is leaving some practices scrambling to ensure their systems and staff are prepared to handle new Medicare cards and identify the accurate MBI.

Ensure your practice is prepared for the MBI Rollout next week by following the first steps we provided in our blog, IS YOUR PRACTICE READY FOR THE NEW MEDICARE CARDS AND MBI ROLL OUT?

The issuing of new cards and MBIs (Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers) requires all practices to prepare and adjust their workflows and technology systems to ensure they are prepared for this major information change in order to avoid payment delays. Oftentimes we iron out the last issues during application and with practice, but you must keep in mind that it can affect and impact your reimbursement and overall revenue.

Actions to take this week to ensure a smooth transition with the new MBIs:

• Contact Practice Management System vendors this week ensure the system changes and proper measures have been made and applied to your practice software to accommodate the new MBIs
• Educate practice staff about the rollout of new Medicare cards with the new MBIs.  By now, your staff should each be able to
•  identify a new card
•  recognize the patient’s individual MBIs
•  understand the differences in the old card/numbers
•  be familiar with where to log the new MBI in your practice management system
•  begin discussing with patients the release of their new cards based on eligibility inquiries.
• Prepare your staff with practice: Get your staff into the habit of monitoring eligibility responses as of April 1, 2018, by looking for messages that indicate when the patient was mailed their new Medicare card.

Our consulting team at MEREM Healthcare Solutions is here to help you with training your front office staff to execute their more technical responsibilities such as processing new MBIs. We offer both on-site and remote training, so there is a solution to fit any size staff and any size budget. The Merem Healthcare Solutions consulting team comes in to help your staff (and your practice) reach their maximum potential at benefit verification and up-front collections.