Medicare is a government-sponsored health insurance program in the United States for people aged 65 years or older, and for people with certain disabilities. If you’re preparing a summary notice (Form 3 Part A) to provide to your Medicare beneficiary, you need to use the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Publication Manual of Style (5th edition). In this article, we’ll outline the basics of APA formatting and show you how to use it in a Medicare summary notice.
What is APA Format?
Formatting Your Medicare Summary Notice in APA Format
There are a few things to keep in mind when formatting your Medicare Summary Notice (MSN) in APA format. First, use the correct title page for your document. This will include your name, the journal name you submitted the MSN to, and the year of publication. Next, make sure all text is double-spaced and all citations are placed at the end of the text. Finally, use parentheses to group related words together and use a tabs character to indent paragraphs. Here is an example of an MSN formatted in APA format:
Linda L. Smith
Department of Psychiatry
University of Missouri-Columbia
2013
APA Style: Linda L. Smith (2013). Department of Psychiatry, University of Missouri-Columbia.
How to Use APA Format in Your Medicare Summary Notice?
\snThis article will show you how to properly use the American Psychological Association (APA) format when creating your Medicare summary notice.
\snThe APA format is most commonly used in research papers and other academic documents, but it can also be used in your Medicare summary notice.
\snTo use the APA format in your Medicare summary notice, you first need to determine the audience for which you are writing. You should then use the appropriate sections of the APA format for that audience.
\snHere are some tips for using the APA format in your Medicare summary notice:
Title:
The title of your Medicare summary notice should be “Medicare Summary Notice—Author’s Name(s), Institution Name, Date” or something similar. The title should be short and descriptive, and it should reflect the main point of your document.
Introduction:
Your introduction should provide a brief overview of what your document is about and why it is important. It should also explain how to use the APA format in your document.
Body:
Your body should contain information that is specific to your audience. For example, if you are
Sample Medicare Summary Notice
Here is an example of how to use the APA format in your Medicare Summary Notice.
“Dear Medicare Beneficiary,
The purpose of this letter is to remind you that you have the right to receive a summary notice of your benefits every two years. This notice will provide you with information about your coverage and help you understand how much money you may be able to save on prescription drugs.
To receive your summary notice, please call our toll-free number or go online to www.medicare.gov/summary-notices/. You can also get a summary notice by mailing a request along with the appropriate documents to:
Summary Notices Department
Medicare Program Operations Center (MPOC)
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201”
Conclusion
If you’ve ever written a Medicare summary notice, then you know that it’s important to use the APA format. In this article, we’ll show you how to properly write an APA summary notice in order to ensure that your information is easy to read and understood. We also include a few examples of Medicare summary notices that use the APA format so that you can see how it’s supposed to look and feel. So go ahead and give your summary notices a fresh coat of APA polish!