The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is notifying Medicare beneficiaries whose personal information may have been involved in a data incident affecting Medicare.gov accounts. CMS identified suspicious activity related to unauthorized creation of certain beneficiary online accounts using personal information obtained from unknown external sources. Approximately 103,000 beneficiaries may have been impacted. Following detection of the incident, CMS deactivated affected accounts and performed various activities to mitigate the effects on impacted individuals. Notifications to affected individuals are being mailed, informing them of the incident, outlining steps being taken to protect their information, and providing guidance on actions they may wish to take.
Potential Impacts on SNF Providers: CMS is mailing new Medicare cards with new Medicare Beneficiary Identifier numbers (MBIs) to beneficiaries as needed. SNF provider billing offices should keep an eye out for unexpected claim denials due to invalid MBIs and check with the resident or their responsible party to determine if the resident recently received a new Medicare card with a new MBI.