The Centers for Me
dicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced in the 2019 Final Rule that
changes to E&M services would be initiated as an attempt to alleviate t
he administrative burden the current guidelines presented to providers. The
Final Rule established new Evaluation and Management coding guidelines, ef
fective January 1, 2021, that replace the previous 1995 and 1997 guidelines
. The CPT coding changes retain 5 levels of coding for established pa
tients, reduce the number of levels to 4 for office/outpatient E/M visits f
or new patients, and revise the code definitions. The CPT code changes also
revise the times and medical decision making process for all of the codes,
and requires performance of history and exam only as medically appropriate
. The CPT code changes will allow clinicians to choose the E/M visit level
based on either medical decision making or time. In addition to the E
&M code changes, opportunities for additional services are available to
clinicians. CMS recognizes the time and effort clinicians provide to patie
nts with complex conditions by allowing coding and documentation for prolon
ged services and a patient complexity add-on code. This event will pr
ovide an in-depth review of what is changing and why. Participants will lea
rn about the specific options and requirements from coding experts and a cl
inician. The presenters will provide an explanation of the new methods usin
g pertinent case examples. |