The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Dec. 7 posted its final, updated version of the Medicare Outpatient Observation Notice (MOON) to its website. The standardized form serves as written notice to Medicare beneficiaries that they are an outpatient receiving observation services, and not an inpatient of the hospital or critical access hospital.
The Notice of Observation Treatment and Implication of Care Eligibility Act (NOTICE Act, P.L. 114-39) requires hospitals and critical access hospitals to provide oral and written notice to beneficiaries within 36 hours of receiving observation services. In the fiscal year (FY) 2017 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) final rule, CMS finalized policies for implementing the MOON, and delayed implementation until 90 days after the form was posted on the website.
All hospitals and critical access hospitals must implement the standardized MOON form by March 6, 2017, for Medicare beneficiaries receiving outpatient observation services for more than 24 hours.