All hospitals must give Medicare Outpatient Observation Notice to patient

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan adheres to guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for the Medicare Outpatient Observation Notice, commonly referred to as MOON.

Effective Feb. 21, 2017, hospitals and critical access hospitals are required to furnish the MOON to any Medicare beneficiary who has been receiving observation services as an outpatient for more than 24 hours. This is a mandatory requirement for all hospitals.

The MOON is a standardized notice that informs beneficiaries (including Medicare health plan enrollees) that they are an outpatient receiving observation services and are not an inpatient of the hospital or a critical access hospital. The notice must be provided no later than 36 hours after observation services are initiated or, if sooner, upon release.

The notice informs beneficiaries of the reasons they’re an outpatient receiving observation services and how this may affect their Medicare cost sharing and coverage for post-hospitalization skilled nursing facility services.

You can find the standard language for the MOON and instructions on the CMS website by clicking here.**

**Blue Cross doesn’t own or control this website.