March 11, 2022 | By Grant Huang, CPMA, CPC For the first time since CMS and the AMA implemented their 2021 revisions to office/outpatient evaluation and management (E/M) guidelines, we now have data on how those revisions may have impacted actual E/M code selection by healthcare providers. Utilization of level 4 visits is up…
February 25, 2022 | By J. Paul Spencer, CPC, COC As an auditor in the post-2021 E/M landscape, one of the more common questions I receive has to do with one of the bullet points found in the “Moderate” line of the new E/M grid labeled “Number and Complexity of Problems Addressed”. While this…
January 21, 2022 | By Sean Weiss, CHC, CEMA, CMCO, CPMA, CPC-P, CMPE, CPC While I am sure you have heard it several dozen times by now, I want to welcome you to 2022 because that is where the pleasantries end. 2022 will see Medical Necessity put front & center not only in audits…
January 14, 2022 | By Shannon DeConda, CPC, CEMC, CEMA, CPMA, CRTT In 2022, when we sit down to configure an audit plan, we often consider whether we will perform an audit retrospectively or prospectively and whether the sample will include evaluation and management (E&M) services, procedures or some combination of them both. What we…
December 24, 2021 | By Grant Huang, CPMA, CPC The 2021 E/M guidelines’ more permissive rules for time-based coding is a potential watershed moment for physicians who want to spend less of their time documenting E/M notes. But if we interpret these changes to mean that the longstanding concept of “medical necessity” can be…