Fairfield Memorial Hospital would like to make patients who have a Medicare Card aware of upcoming changes from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS will begin issuing new Medicare cards and new Medicare numbers in order to remove Social Security Numbers (SSNs) from all Medicare cards by April 2019. A new unique Medicare number will replace the current Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) on the new Medicare cards. They are taking this step to protect people with Medicare from fraudulent use of their SSNs, which can lead to identity theft and illegal use of Medicare benefits.
CMS will be mailing the new cards to people with Medicare beginning in April 2018 and will meet the statutory deadline for replacing all Medicare cards by April 2019. For those patients who are new to the Medicare program starting in April 2018 they will only have a card with the new Medicare number.
“By sending out this notification, we hope to ensure that our Medicare patients have been alerted to watch their mail for their new Medicare card. If you have moved in the past year, we also recommend that you double check with Medicare to verify that they have your current address on file so you are able to get your card without delay. Once patients receive a new card, please be sure to present the new card at your next visit to the Hospital and Horizon Healthcare. We also want patients to know that this new card does not affect any of their Medicare benefits,” stated Kristin Boldt, Director of Business Office.
If you have any questions regarding this information please contact the Fairfield Memorial Hospital Business Office at 618-842-2611.
