Updated Medicare Outpatient Observation Notice for Medicare beneficiaries
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published and updated the Medicare Outpatient Observation Notice (MOON) for Medicare beneficiaries (including health plan enrollees), which informs them that they are outpatient status receiving services and are not classified inpatient at a hospital or critical access hospital (CAH). This update improves the notice’s readability and design.
The updated MOON is effective now and expires February 28, 2029. Providers may continue to utilize the version of the expired MOON but must transition to the updated version by April 20, 2026.
New version is published at: FFS & MA MOON | CMS.
Additional instructions can be found at: /Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Manuals/Downloads/clm104c30.pdf (PDF) – section 400, chapter 30 of the CMS Claims Processing Manual.