The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that effective May 7, 2018, the Notice of Exclusion from Medicare Benefits (NEMB-SNF) will no longer be used, and in its place, a reviewed SNFABN will be used. The SNFABN will replace the five existing SNF Denial letters as well.
Per the CMS FFS SNFABN website:
CMS is releasing a newly revised Skilled Nursing Facility Advance Beneficiary Notice of Non-coverage (SNFABN) along with newly developed, concise and separate instructions for form completion. The revised SNFABN has the requirements from the Denial Letters and looks similar to the ABN with 3 different options for Original FFS Medicare beneficiaries to choose from. We will be discontinuing the 5 SNF Denial Letters and the Notice of Exclusion from Medicare Benefits – Skilled Nursing Facility (NEMB-SNF). Since the NEMB-SNF was used as a voluntary notice for care that is never covered by Medicare, we will continue to encourage providers to issue the revised SNFABN in this voluntary capacity. The revised SNFABN will be mandatory for use on May 7, 2018. During the interim, SNFs may continue to use the old version of the SNFABN, the Denial Letters or the NEMB-SNF, however, it is recommended that the revised SNFABN be used as soon as possible.
- For Part A items and services: SNFs must use the newly revised SNFABN as the liability notice.
- For Part B items and services: SNFs must use the Advance Beneficiary Notice of Non-coverage (ABN), Form CMS-R-131.
To read the relevant information and download the form and instructions, visit the CMS FFS SNFABN webpage here.