CMS IDea Challenge: Strategies for Securing Member IDs Interest Form

CALLING ALL INNOVATORS! The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is hosting two in-person events to combat fraud involving health plan identifiers (IDs) and enhance the security of those IDs. These collaborative events will bring together experts from diverse backgrounds to develop innovative ways to protect patient information.
 
Individuals interested in attending are invited to submit an interest form by September 26, 2025.
 
Event Background
Health plans use confidential member IDs for transactions like health care billing, eligibility status, and claim status. Individuals committing health care fraud are increasingly stealing Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers (MBIs) and other member IDs in various ways, such as deceiving patients, hacking into health care organizations’ systems, or misusing online lookup tools. Once member IDs are stolen, they are used to submit fraudulent claims to Medicare and other health insurance companies. This leads to financial losses and reduces trust in the healthcare system.
 
Participation
CMS is seeking participants who can offer varied perspectives to better protect patient information. This includes individuals with backgrounds including, but not limited to:
·       Healthcare (e.g., health plans, clinicians and their staff, and health care payment) to share best practices for securely working with patient information
·       Payment processing to share secure payment workflows
·       Cybersecurity to share safeguards to prevent unauthorized access to user information
·       Clearinghouses to provide insights on secure data exchange and claims processing standards
·       Program integrity to discuss strategies for detecting and preventing fraud, waste, and abuse
·       Organizations close to Medicare beneficiaries to offer beneficiary-centered insights
 
No technical skills, such as programming or software development, are required for participation.
 
CMS encourages you to share this interest form with those in your networks who may be interested. 
 
Logistics
·       Event Dates and Locations: Attendees can choose to attend one of the two in-person options below:
         o       November 5, 9:00AM – 5:00PM PST, San Francisco, California 
         o       November 13, 9:00AM – 5:00PM EST, New York, New York
·       Format: Attendees will spend a full day working in small teams of diverse professional backgrounds to develop ideas to improve member ID security. We want to hear from everyone’s differing perspectives. At the end of the day, each group will pitch their solutions to CMS.
·       Guidance: Selected participants will receive additional details, such as the event address, agenda, guiding questions, and preparation tips, via email in advance of the event.
·       Preparation: Since the event is meant to be collaborative, attendees should not arrive with a prepared idea or team.