Pediatric Coding Alert

Test your skills with these questions to see where you should focus your E/M education.

Evaluation and management coding can be tricky for even seasoned coders. There are many pieces to the E/M coding puzzle, including the three key components of history, exam, and medical decision making. Test your E/M coding know-how with these three questions to determine where you should focus your continuing education, then check your answers against the experts' on page 84.

Question 1: The pediatrician documents "PMFSH: Same as documented in my note of January 7, 2011, except the patient no longer lives with a smoker." Can you count this documentation toward the current encounter's level of history?

Question 2: Which set of examination guidelines is most advantageous for pediatric practices?

Question 3: What should be the overarching factor you use to select the overall level of service for an E/M service?