Outpatient Observation Status Toolkit Released by the Center for Medicare Advocacy

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The Center for Medicare Advocacy (CMA) has released a Medicare Hospital Outpatient and Observation Status Toolkit. Observation status is a categorization of Medicare patients who are deemed to be outpatients rather than admitted inpatients in hospitals, even if their stay extends to multiple days.

This status has profound consequences on patients’ quality and cost of care. Medicare coverage of often-needed post-acute care in a skilled nursing facility, for example, requires three inpatient hospital days. Patients may find themselves in the hospital, receiving medical services, tests, and treatment, sometimes for many days, but learn they are considered outpatients, in Observation Status, not admitted inpatients.

The information in the Toolkit can help beneficiaries, families, advocates and providers understand and respond to an “outpatient” Observation Status designation. The Toolkit has been developed under a John A. Hartford Foundation grant to CMA.


To access the Medicare Hospital Outpatient and Observation Status Toolkit, click here.