KristinM522
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I work for an orthopaedic practice that also has pain management doctors. Our pain dr's do what they call an "objective VISUAL exam" on new patients consisting of body areas like eyes, skin, respiratory, CV & abdomen. This part of the "exam" is strictly what they have observed while talking with the patient, no instruments are used and they aren't doing any physical tests to confirm their observations. The question is, is it acceptable to do a "visual" exam like this in pain management (in addition to their actual physical exam-if their is one) I am used the musculoskeletal docs and they only do whats pertinent to their extremity/body area and perhaps a constitutional and psychiatric exam but not all the rest. Since the pain dr's document these other body systems obviously it raises the level of EM they bill out. I am trying to find information from Medicare or another reputable source one way or the other to end the ongoing speculation of "can they or can't they" but not having much luck. Does anyone have any info that may be helpful here??
Thank you in advance!
Thank you in advance!