After you get a service or supply, your provider should bill Medicare. Later, Medicare will send you a Medicare Summary Notice (MSN) that describes the bills it got from your providers. The MSN will also tell you whether Medicare paid the bills. Read it carefully. If Medicare didn’t pay for a service or supply, and you think it should have, you have 120 days from the date you get the notice to file an appeal. The back of your MSN will have information on how to file an appeal.

If you are getting Medicare-covered services from a hospital (as an inpatient), skilled nursing facility, home health agency, comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facility, or hospice, and you think your services are ending too soon, you may have the right to a “fast appeal.” This fast appeal is also called an “expedited determination.” An independent reviewer will decide if your services should continue.