New Medicare card lookup tool gets update

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are still mailing new Medicare cards to beneficiaries in the last batch of U.S. states and territories and to people who are newly eligible for Medicare. Your Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC), however, has already updated the online tool you use to look up a patient’s Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) even if the patient hasn’t received a new Medicare card yet. If you do not already have access, sign up for your MAC’s secure portal to use the tool.

Remember, you can use either the patient's Health Insurance Claim Number or his or her MBI for all Medicare transactions through Dec. 31, 2019. If patients need a new card, they can call 1-800-MEDICARE to get one.

For more information on the transition to the MBI:

• Transition to New Medicare Numbers and Cards Fact Sheet
• New MBI: Get It, Use It MLN Matters Article
• Webpages for Provider and Office Managers, Getting MBIs, and Using MBIs

– Kent Moore, Senior Strategist for Physician Payment at the American Academy of Family Physicians