On March 7, Marilyn Tavenner, Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a redesign of the claims and benefits statement provided to Medicare beneficiaries.  CMS has redesigned the statement as a part of its new initiative called “Your Medicare Information: Clearer, Simpler, At Your Fingertips.” 

Known as the Medicare Summary Notice (MSN), new features of the MSN include:

  • A clear notice on how to check the form for important facts and potential fraud;
  • Clearer language, including consumer-friendly descriptions for medical procedures;
  • Definitions of all terms used on the form; and
  • Larger fonts through the form to make it easier to read. 

CMS has developed a side-by-side comparison of the current and redesigned MSNs, which is available to view on the CMS website.  The redesigned MSN will be available to beneficiaries online by the end of the week.  The paper MSN will be replaced with the redesigned MSN beginning in early 2013.