CMS removes prematurely posted Medicare Outpatient Observation Notice

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has removed from its website an updated Medicare Outpatient Observation Notice, which it said was posted prematurely yesterday. It expects to post the final MOON on its website very soon, after which hospitals will have 90 days to implement it. Under the Notice of Observation Treatment and Implication for Care Eligibility Act, hospitals must provide oral and written notice to beneficiaries who receive more than 24 hours of outpatient observation services. The notice informs them that they are an outpatient receiving observation services, not an inpatient, and about the implications for cost-sharing and eligibility for Medicare coverage of skilled nursing facility services. The notice must be provided within 36 hours after observation services are initiated, or sooner if the individual is transferred, discharged or admitted as an inpatient.