Before sending the appointment letter, complete these actions:

• •

  Prior to the interview, review the beneficiary's Social Security records, such as the Master Beneficiary Record (MBR), Numerical Identification (NUMIDENT) record, Supplemental Security Income Record (SSR); and

• •

  Identify any discrepancies between the records that need you need to resolve during the interview (e.g., date of birth or address).

Several notices are available for use when scheduling an interview for MNUP. The notices and their Spanish translations are available in the Document Processing System (DPS).

You must send an appointment letter to the beneficiary. If the beneficiary has a payee, you must send the same notice to the payee.

Send one of these appointment letters after you determine how you will conduct the interview:

• •

  Telephone interview - Use the SSA-L502 (Telephone Interview Letter) to schedule a telephone interview with the beneficiary and the payee. For a sample SSA-L502, refer to NL 00701.136.

• •

  Home visit - Use the SSA-L501 (Home Visit Letter) to schedule an interview at the beneficiary's residence with the beneficiary and the payee. For a sample SSA-L501, refer to NL 00701.135.

• •

  Residence address request - Use the SSA-L505 (Residence Address Request) to schedule an interview at the beneficiary's residence with the beneficiary and the payee. Send the SSA-L505 to request the beneficiary's residence address when only the mailing address is available in our records. For a sample SSA-L505, refer to NL 00701.139.

Document the remarks on the Development Worksheet (DW) in the MNUP website with the type of appointment letter that you sent and the scheduled appointment details. For more information about the MNUP website, refer to GN 02602.650.

Rescheduling an appointment may occur prior to the suggested date and time at the request of the beneficiary or payee, or after a missed appointment. If the beneficiary or their payee requests to reschedule the interview, accommodate their preferred date and time whenever possible.

If it is necessary to reschedule the interview:

1. a. 

   Attempt to call the beneficiary or the payee to reschedule the interview.

2. b. 

   Mail a new appointment letter to the beneficiary and the payee. The letter must provide the new date and time of the upcoming interview. If the new appointment is less than a week from the original appointment, an appointment letter is optional, but confirm that all parties will be available at the appointment time.

3. c. 

   Add a remark on the Development Worksheet (DW) in the MNUP website to document the reason for rescheduling, the date and time of the telephone call, the date that you mailed the new appointment letter, and confirmation that the beneficiary and payee will be available.

We will attempt to reschedule the appointment twice. After those attempts, include this language in the appointment letter when scheduling the final (third) appointment:

"We have tried to schedule an appointment with you twice. Each time we rescheduled, you were not available. It is very important that you keep this appointment. If you do not keep this appointment, we may suspend your payments until we speak with you."

If the beneficiary resides in a nursing home, call the nursing home to verify that the beneficiary is alive before suspending payment. If the nursing home alleges that the beneficiary is alive, begin payee development, if necessary. If the nursing home alleges that the beneficiary is deceased, follow the instructions in GN 00304.005.

If the beneficiary or payee fails to keep the third appointment, you must take these actions:

1. a. 

   Send an advance notice to the beneficiary and the payee informing them of our planned action to suspend benefits. The advance notice must state the:

   • •

     pending adverse action,

   • •

     reason why we plan to suspend benefits,

   • •

     evidence we used to make the determination, and

   • •

     that the beneficiary or payee has 10 calendar days (plus 5 days for mailing) to respond before we suspend benefits. Establish a diary for 15 calendar days. For more information about the required content of advance notices for Title II cases, refer to GN 03001.015 and NL 00601.030

2. b. 

   After 15 calendar days have passed from the date you mailed the advance notice and you have not received a response, follow the policy in GN 02602.320. Place the record into ledger account file (LAF) S9 with the suspension reason of whereabouts unknown (WHEREU).

3. c. 

   Add this message to the MBR:"MNUP interview needed. Payments suspended for failure to keep MNUP interview appointments. Immediately remove suspense once MNUP interview is conducted."

4. d. 

   After the MBR shows the LAF code as S9, update the LAF code in the Medicare Non-Utilization User Information section of the MNUP website to show that you suspended the beneficiary's benefits.

5. e. 

   When you suspend benefits for whereabouts unknown, immediately refer the case to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) using the Allegation Referral Intake System (ARIS). Annotate the Development Worksheet (DW) remarks with the date you referred the case to OIG. Provide as much information as available in ARIS. NOTE: When completing ARIS for the MNUP referral, select program option Medicare Non-Utilization and select "Unable to Locate."

6. f. 

   Select and complete the “Unable to Locate” MNUP worksheet. The case will remain pending and will not reflect a case status of “Complete” until we determine if the beneficiary is alive or deceased.

We will not select beneficiaries with a foreign address on the MBR to participate in MNUP. If a beneficiary has moved to a foreign country but has not updated their address, you may find they will appear on the MNUP listing.

A beneficiary must use a foreign mailing address if he or she will be outside the United States (U.S.) for more than 3 months unless the address is an:

• •

  Army or Air Force Post Office (APO),

• •

  Diplomatic Post Office (DPO),

• •

  Fleet Post Office (FPO), or

• •

  address of a payee who is remaining within the U.S.

If the beneficiary lives in a foreign country and the payee lives in the U.S., a payee change may be appropriate

If you determine that the beneficiary may need a new payee because their payee did not comply with the interview, refer to GN 00504.100.

After you have secured the exact foreign address and phone number where the beneficiary resides, develop as follows:

1. a. 

   Determine the correct field office (FO) A domestic Social Security office serves beneficiaries who live in Canada, British Virgin Islands, or Samoa. Identify the new FO code located in the MNUP - Canada - BVI - Samoa.xlsx Excel spreadsheet and transfer the case to the new servicing FO via the TRANSFER facility on the MNUP website. This removes the case from your list and posts the case on the new FO's list. Consider your case cleared if the transfer was successful.

2. b. 

   When the beneficiary lives outside the U.S., except for Canada, the British Virgin Islands, or Samoa, send an email to ^Central Processing-International Operations (ISU) that includes this information:

   • •

     MNUP Case (subject)

   • •

     Name of beneficiary

   • •

     SSN

   • •

     New address

   • •

     New phone number or contact number

   • •

     Approximate date of the address change. The date will serve as an indicator for the SSA-21, Supplement to Claim of Person Outside the United States.

   • •

     This comment, "Please verify if beneficiary is alive or deceased. If deceased, please secure and store acceptable proof of death in the Evidence Portal (EP) and process the death termination input in the Death Information Processing System (DIPS)." For more information on EP, refer to MS 09701.001.

     Add a remark on the MNUP Development Worksheet (DW) with your findings and the date you sent the email to ISU.

     NOTE: Please be aware that development between ISU and the FSP takes additional time.

     Take these actions in conjunction with the MNUP interview request:

     If	then, ISU will
     the beneficiary is alive, (ISU necessary action)	1.  conducted the MNUP interview and confirm the beneficiary lives at the furnished address, 2.  input the applicable change of address. This action ensures we code the foreign address correctly, and then ISU will 3.  reply to the FO by email to inform them of your findings.
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     If	then, the FO will
     the beneficiary is alive, (FO necessary action)	1.  update the LAF code in the Medicare Non-User Information section of then MNUP website to show that the beneficiary is in current pay status, 2.  add remarks on the MNUP Development Worksheet (DW) that the beneficiary is alive, living in a foreign country, and was contacted by ISU, 3.  select and complete the "Alive" worksheet, and 4.  select "Finish" to annotate the case status as complete. This action clears the case from your list.
     		​
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     If	then
     the beneficiary is deceased,	1.  ISU secures acceptable proof of death and input the death via the Death Information Processing System (DIPS), 2.  ISU posts Electronic Evidence Documentation and Retention, per GN 00301.286, 3.  ISU replies to the FO by email to inform them of their findings, 4.  FO, after receipt of ISU's email reply, updates the LAF in the Medicare Non-User Information section of the MNUP website to show we terminated the beneficiary's benefits (LAF T1). 5.  FO updates remarks on the MNUP DW that the beneficiary is deceased and the ISU posted the death data, 6.  FO selects and completes the “Deceased” worksheet, and 7.  FO selects “FINISH” to annotate the case status as complete. This action clears the case from your list.
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