Starting April 2018, Medicare beneficiaries start receiving new insurance cards with a unique identifier, not their Social Security number.

 You can continue submitting claims with the existing Social Security number through 2019, but your internal systems should be ready to accept the new numbers.

 CMS plans to send cards out in shifts. From April to June 2018, CMS will mail cards to states in groups 1 and 2.

• Group 1: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia
• Group 2: Alaska, American Samoa, California, Guam, Hawaii, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon

 Remaining states will receive their cards after June 2018:

• Group 3: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin
• Group 4: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont
• Group 5: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina
• Group 6: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming
• Group 7: Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Virgin Islands