An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock () or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

TMSIS Dataguide Medicaid.gov
Version 3.38.0

MEDICARE-HIC-NUM

Data Element

DE Number

CIP196

System DE Number

CIP.002.196

File Segment Number

CIP00002

File Segment Name

CLAIM-HEADER-RECORD-IP

Last updated

09/12/2024

Definition The Medicare HIC Number (HICN) is an identifier formerly used by SSA and CMS to identify all Medicare beneficiaries. For many beneficiaries, their SSN was a major component of their HICN. To prevent identify theft, among other reasons, HICN gradually were retired and replaced by the Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) over the course of 2018 and 2019. HICN continue to be used by Medicare for limited administrative purposes after 2019 but starting in 2020 the MBI became the primary identifier for Medicare beneficiaries. HICN consists of two components: SSN & alpha-suffix or (for Railroad IDs) prefix and ID (not always SSN based)
Size X(12)
FLF Start Position 1145
FLF Stop Position 1156
Segment Key Field Identifier Not Applicable
Coding Requirements 1. Conditional
2. Value must be 12 characters or less
3. Value must not contain a pipe or asterisk symbols
4. (Not Dual Eligible) if Dual Eligible Code (ELG.DE.085) value equals "00", then value must not be populated
5. Value must be populated when Crossover Indicator (CIP.002.023) equals "1" and Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (CIP.002.222) is not populated