Medicare Summary Notice (MSN)
A Medicare Summary Notice (MSN) is the statement Medicare sends beneficiaries showing the services billed, what Medicare paid, and what the patient may owe.
Updated
A Medicare Summary Notice (MSN) is the periodic statement Medicare sends to Original Medicare beneficiaries summarizing the services providers billed, the amounts Medicare approved and paid, and the amount the beneficiary may owe (deductibles, coinsurance, and any non-covered charges). It is a patient-facing summary, not a remittance advice to the provider.
An MSN is the beneficiary's record of the same adjudication a provider sees on the Medicare Remittance Advice. It explains the decision in plain language and tells the beneficiary how to appeal if they disagree.
In practice
Because the MSN mirrors the provider's remittance, a discrepancy between what a provider billed and what the MSN shows is a useful starting point for reconciling a patient's balance — and for catching a denial the practice may not yet have worked. An MSN is not a bill from the provider; it is Medicare's account to the patient.
Commonly confused with
- Remittance advice: The remittance advice (ERA/EFT) is the provider-facing payment and adjustment detail; the MSN is the beneficiary-facing summary of the same adjudication.
- Explanation of benefits: An EOB is the analogous patient-facing statement from a commercial or Medicare Advantage payer; an MSN is the Original Medicare equivalent.