I am inclined to agree, Kristen, which is why the confusion
I do think that it would be considered double dipping. I will read over that CMS document anyway and see what it has to say, but when it comes to E&M, I want to know about what multiple carriers think, not always just medicare, you know? I was taught to follow the audit tools but I also have been doing a lot of E&M training and I just can't seem to find difinitive answers on some of this stuff and I am finding that some of it is open to interpretation by different carriers and different coders.
I don't see why I couldn't use 3 elements of the HPI for the actual HPI and the rest of the elements covered in the HPI for the ROS. It wouldn't be double dipping, as each one is only being used once, right? I can't seem to find anything in writing that says that I can't do it that way. The person in this forum that told me that I can do that is someone that I respect, admire and trust very much and I am inclined to just go with her on faith. I just wanted to get others' opinions on it.