Medical Billing Basics: How to Code E/M Visits in the Hospital & Office Setting

February 4, 2012

Worried about under-coding or over-coding your patients’ Evaluation & Management (E/M) services? Not sure of whether to bill for a level 3, 4, or 5 exam? Many physicians experience confusion when deciphering what level of care is appropriate to bill. On one hand, under-coding can result in a decrease in reimbursement that rightly belongs to your practice; on the other, over-coding can result in denials for lack of medical necessity or even inadvertent insurance fraud. Whether you are working in a specialty practice, primary care setting, or are making hospital rounds, the challenge of E/M coding is universal. Fortunately, resources abound to help physicians determine the most appropriate coding of E/M exams. On February 7, 2012, Highmark Medicare (the Medicare contractor for physicians billing in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia Metropolitan Area) is offering a free webinar on the (advanced) Evaluation and Management scorecard. Registration is required. The webinar is offered between 1 – 2:30 PM EST. Short on time? Medicare offers free access to its webinar handouts for both the Basic and Advanced presentation on E/M Coding.

Registration & Handouts are available on the Highmark Medicare Services website: https://www.highmarkmedicareservices.com/calendar/partb/webinar/index.html.

For additional resources or questions, please feel free to contact Healthcare Data Management, Inc. directly!