Q&A: Delivering the MOON Form

Q. Can we give the Medicare Outpatient Observation Notice (MOON) form up front at the start of placement in observation and not wait until the 24-hour mark?

A. I don’t know that there is anything that says we can’t do that, but in the instruction it says it is only given to patients who require more than 24 hours of observation care. So somewhere between that 24-hour and 36-hour window, it has to be given to the patient. It would seem to me that giving it at the point of admission would be the easiest thing to do, but the CMS instruction does not seem to apply that instruction.
 

Deborah Hale, CCS, CCDS, president and CEO of Administrative Consultant Service, LLC, in Shawnee, Oklahoma, answered this question.

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