New E/M billing guidelines rewarding longer patient visits
Medical Economics September 1, 2022
Time-based visits gain financial advantage over medical decision-making in some circumstances
Recent changes to evaluation and management (E/M) billing guidelines that allow physicians to bill for previously unreimbursed services are producing higher revenues for longer patient visits, according to results of a new study.
The study in JAMA Network Open looks at the financial impact of CMS’s 2021 expansion of its time-based billing guidelines to include time spent on previously unreimbursed tasks associated with patient visits, such as medical record review and care coordination, in addition to the visit itself.
CMS’s goal, according to the authors, was to give doctors an opportunity to increase revenue compared with medical decision-making-based billing, wherein reimbursement generally increases with the number and complexity of...