March 26, 2021 | By Grant Huang, CPC, CPMA If you thought some of the language in the 2021 E/M guidelines was confusing, you’re not the only one: The AMA has gotten enough questions about its new guidelines to issue a six-page document packed with clarifications and corrections. The document also includes an additional three pages…
March 6, 2020 | By Paul Spencer, CPC, COC Something of a preemptive celebration is currently going on in the world of physician documentation. As we know, beginning in January 2021, CMS will modify documentation guidelines for evaluation & management services to put more of an emphasis on medical decision making, rather than…
October 16, 2020 | By Scott Kraft, CPMA, CPC It’s fair to say the 2021 changes to the E/M documentation guidelines ease the documentation burden on the rendering provider for certain aspects of the note. These welcome changes give more heft to the clinical relevance of the patient’s case and the provider’s treatment, rather…
October 23, 2020 | By Grant Huang, CPC, CPMA It’s not even 2021 yet, but gray areas have already surfaced in the 2021 E/M documentation guidelines, as more and more coders and auditors read the fine print. The 2021 guidelines, which will apply only to outpatient/office visit codes 99202-99215, are being implemented in part…
December 15, 2020 | By By Grant Huang, CPC, CPMA At long last, CMS has published its Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) final rule, and while some of the provisions will be widely felt across many specialties, there are no major or unexpected deviations from the proposed rule. The agency typically releases the PFS…
January 1, 2021 | By Shannon DeConda, CPC, CEMC, CEMA, CPMA, CRTT While conducting a 2021 E&M Physician Training event for a client, like right in the middle of the session, I had an epiphany. Now maybe you have already had it- but I thought- WOW- we have made the full circle right back around…
January 29, 2021 | By Scott Kraft, CPMA, CPC One of the big changes in the new E/M Documentation Guidelines for 2021 for office and outpatient service codes 99202-99215 is the new high-risk category of “Decision Regarding Hospitalization.” As an auditor, the first thing I thought about were the situations in which a very…
February 5, 2021 | By Paul Spencer, CPC, COC As coders, auditors, and practitioners, we now find ourselves one month into the new world of outpatient evaluation and management (E/M) services. By now, certain patterns are hopefully beginning to emerge with regard to providers’ E/M documentation. As templates change and providers make the choice…
Leave the Tylenol at home — you won’t need it for this webinar! What a refreshing webinar this is- not only in this extraordinary season we are currently in, doesn’t make us feel lost, or hanging without help. Shannon Deconda presents in a way that even the beginners of us, to the most experienced, are…
May 29, 2020 | By Kari M Keller, CCS, CPC, CPMA, CEMA, CIRCC, CPC-I, CCDS-O | Senior Manager Coding Quality, Inova Health System Those who know me best know that I am an absolute optimist. I can find the positive in almost everything. So, what has this stay-at-home order impacted? We slowed our lives down. We…