{"id":4430,"date":"2016-10-11T08:41:51","date_gmt":"2016-10-11T13:41:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/?p=4430"},"modified":"2016-10-15T15:31:18","modified_gmt":"2016-10-15T20:31:18","slug":"4430","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/4430\/","title":{"rendered":"Rock Your Coding World! How to Evaluate Your Coding for Maximum Reimbursement"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Lisa<\/a>

Lisa J. Barnett<\/p><\/div>\n

Download a PDF of this article<\/a><\/p>\n

Hello Friends in Chiropractic!<\/p>\n

Hope you had an awesome summer and took several opportunities to soak in some UV and Vitamin D.<\/p>\n

This month I\u2019d like to both expand on my July Medicare Documentation article and coach you on self-auditing evaluation and management (E\/M) coding for reimbursement. Are you consistently under-coding your E\/M services? It is not benefiting you to do this because more than likely you\u2019re meeting required elements and not getting the best reimbursement available.<\/p>\n

So, what exactly does an auditor, be it Medicare or a Commercial Payer look for in determining reimbursement for your evaluation and management services? It is pretty simple and based on both quality and as it turns out, more importantly, quantity of certain elements. Let\u2019s look in depth how you can self-audit your E\/M services*:<\/p>\n

First, a coding history and review. In 1992, the current E\/M codes were introduced as a result of a ten-year study by CMS(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) and the AMA(American Medical Association). <\/span>Then in 1995 and 1997, CMS and the AMA developed documentation guidelines (DG) for use of these E\/M codes.<\/p>\n

Without re-inventing the wheel, let\u2019s lay out how you determine which code to use for your patient evaluations and management of care. To review,<\/p>\n