Practice Management Alert

The good news is that the code descriptor changes won't really change your billing.Most practices bill evaluation and management codes at some point, whether they are part of your claims every day or only occasionally. CPT® 2013 will revise nearly every code descriptor in the E/M code section, including office visit codes, inpatient hospital codes, consultation codes, or any of the other many E/M codes. We'll review the changes to both sections so you'll be ready as soon as Jan. 1, 2013 rolls around.Eliminate 'Physician' Limitations From Your E/M ThinkingWhereas most E/M codes previously referred to "physicians" and "providers" in their descriptors, that will change effective Jan.1, when the descriptors will instead say "qualified health care professionals."Using 99213 as an example, the code changes are indicated with the strikethroughs (indicating deleted text) and underlining (indicating new text) as follows: Office or other outpatient visit for the evaluation and management of [...]