Why does my patient have a { symbol in their Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN)?

Problem

Why does my patient have a { symbol in their Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN)?

Solution

According to CMS, the { character denotes a Railroad Retirement Board beneficiary. For these beneficiaries you have received the internal RRB HICNO. They do not use a SSN as their Medicare HICN.