How to read a Blue Cross Blue Shield member ID card

Blue member ID cards come from many different Blue plans, and Blue plan provider materials explain the elements that matter for billing. This guide walks through them in the order a front desk or billing team usually needs them.

The member ID number and the prefix

The card displays the member's identification number. The prefix is in the first three positions of that number.

After the prefix, the ID continues with 6 to 14 numbers or letters, for up to 17 characters in total. The plan manuals we cite treat the whole string, prefix included, as the member ID.

A few practical points, each from one of the plan manuals we cite:

• Enter the ID exactly as it appears on the card.
• Do not assume the member ID is the member's Social Security number.
• The prefix may include digits as well as letters. Alphanumeric prefixes have been issued since 2018.

To see which plan a prefix is listed for in our data, use the prefix lookup.

Logos and product indicators

Blue cards may carry a suitcase logo, sometimes with letters inside it. It indicates the product type for out-of-area care:

• "PPO" inside the suitcase: the member is enrolled in a PPO or an EPO product.
• "PPOB" inside the suitcase: a PPO member with access to the BlueCard PPO Basic network.
• An empty suitcase: out-of-area coverage that is not a PPO product. The matching product indicators are "TRAD", "HMO" or "POS".
• "BlueHPN" inside the suitcase: a Blue High Performance Network EPO member.

The suitcase is being phased out. Beginning January 1, 2025, members may present cards with no suitcase logo, and the logo is being replaced with a product indicator such as the "PPO" acronym or "TRAD", "HMO" or "POS". Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts describes this as a multi-year process, and says BlueCard members may or may not have a suitcase logo, so you will see both styles for a while.

Managed care and POS cards may also show a local network identifier.

The back of the card

The back of the card can carry instructions you need. One plan's guide tells providers to check the back of the card for language indicating that certain restrictions apply. For cards with no prefix, such as stand-alone dental, some stand-alone vision and pharmacy products, and FEP, that guide tells you to follow the card's own instructions to verify eligibility, submit claims and find plan contact details.

Electronic ID cards

Electronic ID cards carry a magnetic stripe. It holds the subscriber or member name, member ID, date of birth and a Plan ID. The Plan ID identifies the health plan that issued the card.

Federal Employee Program cards

Federal Employee Program (FEP) cards look different. The member ID begins with "R" followed by 8 digits, with no three-character prefix, and FEP is excluded from BlueCard. The card also shows an enrollment code that identifies the type of coverage.

The sample FEP card published on fepblue.org also shows the member name, an effective date and pharmacy fields such as RxIIN and RxPCN. That reference guide appears to date from 2022 (its document code includes 2022), so check the card in hand.

At check-in

• Ask for the member's most current ID card at every visit.
• Copy the front and back and pass the information to billing.
• Capture all ID card data. Highmark notes this supports accurate claim processing.
• If the card shows no prefix, do not create one or copy one from another card.