Medaxiom Blog

After a long road of preparing for significant changes to Evaluation and Management (E/M) coding, revised policies on coding, documentation and payment of E/M services are now in effect. According to an American Medical Association (AMA) survey 100% of the major commercial payors said they would adopt new E/M guidelines, which means the changes that went into effect Jan. 1, 2021 have a significant impact on your program’s revenue cycle. It’s not too late to understand the evolution of E/M coding and documentation, and how to set your practice up for success in 2021 and beyond.

The rapid impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has and continues to be at the forefront of our daily program operations. As we continue to be faced with several issues related to operating margins, revenue collection and reimbursement, safety has been our biggest priority. Thinking about accurate coding, clinical documentation improvement and ongoing education efforts are not top of mind… but should it be?

Regardless of your role in your organization, you are likely intimately familiar with the administrative burden that accompanies documentation and coding and the crucial role it plays in a practice’s success. Because the process is complex and can be frustrating, mastering the art of documentation and coding requires “lifelong learning” and a team effort by all stakeholders.

What does “Patient Access” really mean in my Program? Patient access has become one of the hottest topics across the country in the majority of CV Programs. It seems so simple to “fix” however it remains a challenge. I have experienced that the definition of access has many meanings based on the individual’s interpretation in relation to their needs, schedule, organization, etc. Access has over time become synonymous with “value” care.

Remember the “old” days when you would put the telephone receiver into a transmission dock and receive pacemaker data through the phone line? Clearly—we have come a long way since then. Today’s automated, remote management (RM) technologies are far less clunky and they deliver far more data. Add to that the need for in-person visits, the complexity of patient compliance, and capturing charges for these services and it’s understandable that the deluge of data has put so many practices on tilt.