Medicare Blog

what is a hicn invalid length or failed cross referrence in medicare

by Reid Walsh Published 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago

What is a hicn number for Medicare?

Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN)—This is the number used by Social Security and Medicare to identify a beneficiary. Social Security is responsible for all eligibility assignment and enrollment into Medicare while Medicare is responsible for oversight and fulfillment of the health benefits.

Does the Railroad Retirement Board issue Medicare Hic numbers?

Both CMS and the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) issue Medicare HIC numbers. The format of a HIC number issued by CMS is a Social Security number followed by an alpha or alphanumeric Beneficiary Identification Code (BIC).

What does hicn stand for in law?

Convenient, Affordable Legal Help - Because We Care! Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) Law and Legal Definition. Health insurance claim number (HICN) refers to the number assigned by the Social Security Administration to an individual for the purpose of identifying him/her as a medicare beneficiary.

What does a hicn number look like?

The HICN may look similar to a beneficiary’s social security number, or that of their spouse or parent or child. This number shows the relationship of the recipient to that of the qualifying individual. For a beneficiary qualifying under their own work history status, the HICN will show their SSN and have a suffix of the letter “A”.

What does Medicare Hicn mean?

The Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) is a Medicare beneficiary's identification number, used for paying claims and for determining eligibility for services across multiple entities (e.g. Social Security Administration (SSA), Railroad Retirement Board (RRB), States, Medicare providers and health plans, etc.)

What does a Medicare Hicn look like?

Health Insurance Claims Numbers (HICNs) If there is an eleventh position, it may be either a letter or number e.g. 123-45-6789A or 987-65-4321D4. The HICN issued by the RRB, may contain either 6 or 9 digit numbers with up to a 3-position letter prefix e.g., A123456 or MA123-45-6789.

Where do I find the Hicn?

HICN will be shown in the beneficiary's insurance card and it is on the basis of this number that a beneficiary's medicare claims are processed. HICN is comprised of two parts namely claim account number (CAN) and beneficiary identification code number (BIC).

Is Hicn the same as SSN?

We removed Social Security Number (SSN)-based Health Insurance Claim Numbers (HICNs) from Medicare cards and are now using Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers (MBIs) for Medicare transactions like billing, eligibility status, and claim status.

How many characters are in a Hicn?

The MBI has 11 characters, like the Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN), which can have up to 11.

When did Hicn change to MBI?

The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) required CMS to remove SSNs from all Medicare cards. CMS replaced the SSN-based HICN with a new, randomly generated MBI.

Is the BNC number the same as the Medicare number?

The BNC is an encrypted 13-character alphanumeric code that is used to identify documents from the Social Security Administration. The BNC is used instead of Social Security numbers or Medicare numbers as a security measure to prevent identity theft.

What do Medicare ID numbers look like?

MBI will contain Numbers and letters (Uppercase), that will use 0 to 9 numbers and all letters from A to Z, they have excluded S,L,O,I,B and Z so that will help all characters to easier to read. The MBI's 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 9th characters will always be a letter. Characters 1, 4, 7, 10, and 11 will always be a number.

What is a HIC code?

The HIC is a number identifying each Medicare participant. The number is most often a combination of the beneficiary's nine-digit social security number and two-digit Beneficiary Identity Code, BIC. The BIC identifies the relationship between the beneficiary and the Medicare primary cardholder.

What is 11 digit Medicare number?

A complete Medicare number requires 11 digits in total. This includes your 10-digit Medicare number on your card followed by the unique reference number that appears next to your name. Please take extra care when entering you Medicare Number, it is extremely important to ensure it is 100% correct.

Is Medicare claim number the same as Medicare number?

Your Medicare claim number is the same as your Medicare card number. That means your Medicare claim number is the same as the 11-character series of numbers and letters on the front of your red, white and blue Medicare card.

What is a BNC number for Medicare?

On the annual COLA notice, we began displaying a Beneficiary Notice Code (BNC). The BNC is an encrypted 13-character alphanumeric code, which is unique to each notice. Employees access a lookup tool to identify the beneficiary and associated records.

What is a HICN number?

Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN)—This is the number used by Social Security and Medicare to identify a beneficiary. Social Security is responsible for all eligibility assignment and enrollment into Medicare while Medicare is responsible for oversight and fulfillment of the health benefits. The HICN may look similar to a beneficiary’s social ...

How many letters are there on a Medicare card?

There are more than 30 different letters that could be used for various reasons. A new recipient may have a “T” until his benefit is activated at the initial enrollment. When completing an enrollment form, always list the number as it is shown on the Medicare ID card even if you know the number will be changing.

What is the suffix for child benefits?

For a spouse, it will have a suffix letter “B” and for a child it will have a suffix letter of “C”. Both spousal and child benefits could be provided to more than one recipient so in that case the suffix letter will be followed by a number such as: (B2) or (C3).

What is a HICN number?

Health insurance claim number (HICN) refers to the number assigned by the Social Security Administration to an individual for the purpose of identifying him/her as a medicare beneficiary. HICN will be shown in the beneficiary's insurance card and it is on the basis of this number that a beneficiary’s medicare claims are processed.

What is a HICN?

HICN is comprised of two parts namely claim account number (CAN) and beneficiary identification code number (BIC). CAN is the policy number of the wage owner who earns medicare benefits and BIC identifies the current relationship between wage earner and beneficiary.

What is the correct HIC number?

HIC Format – A correct HIC number consists of 9 numbers immediately followed by an alpha suffix. Take special care when entering the HIC number for members of the same family who are Medicare beneficiaries. A husband and wife may have a HIC number that share the same Social Security numerics.

What is a 9 digit HICN?

All HICNs issued by SSA are 9-digit numbers with at least one letter suffix (called a beneficiary identification code or BIC) in the tenth position. If there is an eleventh position, it may be either a letter or number e.g. 123-45-6789A or 987-65-4321D4. The HICN issued by the RRB, may contain either 6 or 9 digit numbers with up to a 3-position letter prefix e.g., A123456 or MA123-45-6789. If a beneficiary’s entitlement changes, it is possible for the 9-digit number, the prefix, the suffix or all three to change. It is also possible to go from an SSA issued HICN to a RRB HICN or vise versa. The numeric portion of a 9-digit HICN consists of a Social Security Number (SSN). If the BIC is A, T, TA, M, M1, J1, J2, J3, J4 or the RRB prefix is A or H the number is the beneficiary’s own SSN. If the BIC or RRB prefix is other than one of the above, the SSN belongs to a number holder and the beneficiary is entitled as an auxiliary or survivor on that SSN.

What is noncompliance in Medicare?

Noncompliance will be considered in determining whether the provider is honoring its agreement, under which it may not charge for services for which payment may be made under the Medicare program.

What is M+CO in Medicare?

The provider must ascertain whether the patient is a member of a Medicare + Choice organization (M+CO). If the patient is a member of an M+CO, the provider must contact the M+CO specified by the patient or identified on the patient’s membership card, so the provider may determine whether to submit the claim to the M+CO.

What is encounter in medical?

The term “encounter” means a direct personal contact in the hospital between a patient and a physician, or other person who is authorized by State law and, if applicable, by hospital staff bylaws to order or furnish services for diagnosis or treatment of the patient. Direct personal contact does not include telephone contacts between a patient and physician. Nor is the compensation arrangement between the physician and the hospital relevant to whether an encounter has occurred. Patients will be treated as hospital outpatients for purposes of billing for certain diagnostic services that are ordered during or as a result of an encounter that occurred while such patients are in an outpatient status at the hospital. If a Medicare outpatient is referred to another provider or supplier for further diagnostic testing or other diagnostic services as a result of an encounter that occurs in this hospital, the hospital is responsible for arranging with the other entity for the furnishing of services. Hospitals are not required to verify that all ordered services are furnished but only to assure that, when it is necessary to refer a patient to an outside entity, the referral is made to a provider or supplier with which the referring hospital an arrangement. This requirement is necessary to assure that billing for services that are furnished is processed through the servicing hospital.

What is a DME MAC?

The A/B MAC (A), (B), or (HHH), or DME MAC directs initial requests for assistance to the SSO if the problem is caused by difficulties in determining the beneficiary’s correct entitlement status. Examples of situations that may require SSO assistance are:

What is Medicare HIC number?

Beginning in 2018 the Medicare HIC number will be replaced with a new identifier called a Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI). The MBI numbers will be eleven bytes in length, randomly generated, and will derive no components from a beneficiary’s identification.

When will CMS phase in HIC?

CMS has planned a generous phase-in period of 21 months to begin in April of 2018 and ending with a completed transition in December of 2019. Either the HIC number or the newly issued MIB can be utilized in healthcare transactions throughout this transition period.

What is the 3rd and 6th character in Medicare?

The 3rd and 6th character will be a letter or a number. January 2018 – CMS will generate 150 million MBI, 60 million for active beneficiaries and 90 million deceased or archived beneficiaries. April 2018 to July 2019 – New and active enrollees will receive a new Medicare card with an MBI rather than a HIC number.

What is a HIC number?

HICN numbers are made up of a nine-byte social security number plus a one to two character Beneficiary Identification Code.

When will Medicare card be available with MBI?

April 2018 to July 2019 – New and active enrollees will receive a new Medicare card with an MBI rather than a HIC number. April 2018 to December 2019 – Providers may submit claims with either the patient’s HIC number or the patients MBI.

Who was the first person to get a health insurance claim number?

Former President Harry S. Truman was the very first Medicare beneficiary to be issued a Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) when then President Lyndon B Johnson signed the Medicare program into law on July 30, 1965. Ever since then, Medicare beneficiaries upon entitlement, have been issued a Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN).

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9