Eli's Hospice Insider

Published on Wed Oct 16, 2019 PDF

Focus on new Remittance Advice Remark Code N793.

Get with the Medicare Beneficiary Initiative program before it’s too late. For the week ending Sept. 27, providers submitted 80 percent of fee-for-service claims with the MBI, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says in a message to providers.

“Beginning 1/1/2020, you must submit claims using MBIs (with a few exceptions), no matter what date the services were performed,” stresses Medicare Administrative Contractor National Government Services in a message to providers.

And even without Social Security numbers on them, remember “to guard your Medicare card like a credit card, check Medicare claims summary forms for errors, and be wary of unsolicited requests for your Medicare number,” CMS tells beneficiaries in a new release.

“Health care scammers will go to great lengths to steal from Medicare beneficiaries. That’s why guarding your Medicare card and personal information is essential,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma says in the release. “You can protect yourself by knowing what to look for. Remember, if a caller says they’re from Medicare and asks for your Medicare number or other personal information — hang up. It’s probably a scam.”

Before the MBI becomes mandatory, getting to know the new N793 Remittance Advice Remark Code on your RAs is a good idea.

Why? With the Medicare Beneficiary Identifier set to be the only Medicare number accepted in less than three months, CMS is including on RAs “N793: ALERT - Starting January 1, 2020, Medicare will only accept claims submitted with the Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI). Medicare will reject any claims submitted with the Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) with a few exceptions,” CMS says in a message to providers.

More information about the code and the switch to MBIs is at  www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNMattersArticles/downloads/SE18006.pdf.