April 2, 2021 | By J. Paul Spencer, CPC, COC We now collectively find ourselves one calendar quarter into the new frontier of 2021 outpatient E/M services. Since January 1, I have fielded many questions from my professional contacts regarding how best to look at the newly-engineered medical decision making (MDM) component. As might…
November 20, 2020 | By Brenda Edwards, CPC, CDEO, CPB, CPC-I, CEMC, CRC, CMRS, CMCS COVID-19 has been disrupting the healthcare environment for over a year now. Massive changes and evolutions have been introduced for how to code for services during COVID-19 including virtual visits, lab testing, and vaccinations. This article will cover COVID-19…
Have you ever had one of those questions that you think you have the answer to, but the more you read it, the more you’re swayed the other way — and then you read it again and you have an even different answer? Well, one of our NAMAS members (and a friend of mine) emailed…
March 26, 2021 | By Jamee Black, CPC, COC, CPMA The American Medical Association (AMA) recently released changes to the current Evaluation and Management (E/M) documentation guidelines for the Office and Other Outpatient Visit code range (99202–99215). The new guidelines focus on medical decision making (MDM), and are intended to more closely reflect the…
January 31, 2020 | By Pam Vanderbilt, CPC, CPMA, CPPM, CPC-I, CEMC, CEMA, CEMA-O The year 2021 will bring significant changes to how we determine the level of evaluation and management services in the outpatient setting. We will no longer score history and exam elements, instead focusing on medical decision making or…
February 7, 2020 | By Pam Vanderbilt, CPC, CPMA, CPPM, CPC-I, CEMC, CEMA, CEMA-O Previously we explored the 2021 changes that effect how diagnoses will be scored. Today we will dive into the changes to the data element of MDM. We know the year 2021 will bring significant changes to how we…
February 14, 2020 | By Pam Vanderbilt, CPC, CPMA, CPPM, CPC-I, CEMC, CEMA, CEMA-O Next year will see the implementation of significant changes to E&M guidelines, reducing the emphasis on the history and exam components while highlighting medical decision making (M.D.M.). In our last audit tip on the E&M changes, we discussed…
February 21, 2020 | By Pam Vanderbilt, CPC, CPMA, CPPM, CPC-I, CEMC, CEMA, CEMA-O In the first three articles of this series, we explored how the 2021 E&M changes to office visits will affect each element of medical decision making (MDM): diagnoses, data, and the table of risk. In this article, we…
December 11, 2020 | By Pam Vanderbilt, CPC, CPMA, CPPM, CPC-I, CEMC, CEMA, CEMA-O There is a long-standing rule in our family that Christmas is not allowed to start until the Thanksgiving dinner dishes are washed and put away. I must be completely honest; that family rule has been thrown out the window this…
February 12, 2021 | By Pam Vanderbilt, CPC, CPMA, CPPM, CPC-I, CEMC, CEMA, CEMA-O A few weeks ago, NAMAS presented a webinar about 2021 time and prolonged services. The flood of participant questions made it very obvious there is still uncertainty about how to appropriately use time to select the level of office…