How to use Medicares Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

For the states of Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin you can call Medicare Interactive Response (IVR) at these numbers:

To use the IVR, call:
Illinois (877) 908-9499
Michigan (877) 567-7201
Minnesota (877) 908-8470
Wisconsin (877) 567-7176

IVR hours:
Monday – Friday 6:00 am – 6:00 pm CT*
Saturday 7:00 am – 12:00 pm CT*

*Please note that the functions which require a Provider Transaction Access Number (PTAN) to be entered, such as eligibility and claim status, have limited hours due to system availability. The hours vary by state and option.

Information you need to use the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system.
PTAN number
Patients name
Patients Medicare number (9 numbers followed by a letter)
Patients Date of Birth
Date of Service MMDDYY or MMDDCCYY
Telephone with handset or headset (do not use speakerphone or cell phone)
Knowledge of how use the touch tone keypad (this one takes a bit of skill to perform)

Enter the patients Medicare Number through IVR

Patients Medicare #: 123456789A

Entered in IVR using phone: 123456789*21

* indicates the next entry is a letter

2 after star tells Medicare its the 2nd (view pic where 2 is the second key)

1 indicates A is the first letter of the ABC sequence

Patients Medicare #: 123456789B
IVR using phone: 123456789*22

Patients Medicare #: 123456789C1

IVR using phone: 123456789*231

Exceptions:

Q = *11

R = *72

S = *73

Z = *12

Enter Patients Name through IVR

patients last name followed by the first initial

QZ = 1

ABC = 2

DEF = 3

GHI = 4

JKL = 5

MNO = 6

PRS = 7

TUV = 8

WXY = 9

Example:

Manqi Xiong 946646; X = 9, I = 4, O = 6, N = 6, G = 4, M = 6

Calling IVR for Claim Status walk through

Dial your states IVR phone #

Say or enter your PTAN

Say or enter the patients Medicare number

Say or enter the patients name as it appears on his or her Medicare Card

Say or enter the date of service in MMDDYY format

Press 4 for claim details

Once you have heard all information your next options are to say or key:

• 1 Repeat that
• 2 next claim
• 3 previous claim
• 5 duplicate remittance (for assigned claims only)
• 6 change date
• 7 change Medicare number
• 8 change PTAN
• Say Main Menu

I hope this information helps all billers that have to deal with Medicare. Truly this information can be extremely complicated (*21) which I am not sure why they can't keep it simple like United Health Cares IVR system but it's all about learning how to crack the code and this should at least get you started.

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