sg999  Thank you for this information. This is helpful. This task can be closed.

bh030380 

CMS has removed most publicly posted HICN content as they transitioned to the new MBI. However, please see slide 7 of a CMS presentation that provides an overview of HICN and MBI formats (https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/New-Medicare-Card/SSNRI-Provider-ODF-3-28-17.pptx). Additionally, the webpage you linked correctly describes the formatting and it aligns with the formatting used by the Hybrid Measures. To summarize here,

Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) Format:

• Primary Beneficiary Account Holder Social Security Number (SSN) plus Beneficiary Identification Code (BIC)
• 9-byte SSN plus 1 or 2-byte BIC
• Key positions 1-9 are numeric
• Example: 123-45-6789-A1
• In addition, the Medicare HICNs that were issued by the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) are 6- or 9-digit numbers with up to a 3-position letter prefix e.g., A123456 or MA123-45-6789. RRB HICNs issued before 1964 are 6-digit numbers preceded by an alpha character. RRB HICNs issued after 1964 use the 9-digit social security numbers preceded by an alpha character. Note that this detail is not included in the CMS slide presentation cited above.

Please note that the Hybrid measures (CMS529 v1, v2, and v3/ CMS844 v2 and v3) accept either HICN or MBI.

Finally, if you would like to inquire further about an official CMS HICN format resource, we recommend submitting a question on the resdac webpage: https://resdac.org/cms-data/variables/claim-beneficiary-identifier-type-code

sg999  To clarify, our client identified the HICN was entered in error and corrected it so no issue there. My main question is, is there some documentation anywhere that provides what the format should be for HICN for future reference? 

Hello bh030380, thank you for your question. To ensure we can provide you the most appropriate response, can you please confirm where you are receiving an invalid format error message for HICNs?

Thank you