Otolaryngology Coding Alert

You can quantify your internist's medical decision-making level to protect your practice by using a risk- management sheet.

Problem: Navigating the sheet, however, can prove difficult. Here are some FAQs to get you started.

CMS published the table of risk as one of seven tables in the 1995 and 1997 E/M Documentation and Coding Guidelines. Medicare providers are supposed to use the tables to calculate the history, exam and medical decision-making types, says Robert W. White, practice administrator at Eastern ENT Sinus and Allergy Center PA in Goldsboro, N.C.

The table of risk (presenting problem, diagnostic procedures ordered, and management options selected) is one of three preliminary tables that you can use along with the problem categories table and the type of data table, to determine the level of decision-making, White says. "The results of the history, exam and the decision-making tables are then entered into a seventh table to determine the code level to bill."

Other versions exist as well. The AMA published a version of the table of risk in 1999. Carriers may have their own interpretations.

In the event of an audit, using the table of risk and the associated tables will provide support for your internist's code selection. You can also use the charts as a self-audit tool to check your physicians levels.

Use the original CMS scoring sheets when performing internal audits or selecting code levels. "CMS just announced that comprehensive error rate testing (CERT) reviews are done using the 1995 and 1997 guidelines, not the carrier-revised criteria," said Bill Dacey, MPH, MBA, CPC, in "E/M Auditing" at the 2007 AAPC National Conference in Seattle.

Watch out: You might have to use a different audit tool for some carriers. For instance, TrailBlazer (Medicare Part B carrier for Texas, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware) has developed its own counting system available at http://www.trailblazerhealth.com/Publications/Job%20Aid/coding%20pocket%20reference.pdf.