Benchmark of the Week: E/M codes billed for established patient visits

Why This Topic Matters

Understanding long-term E/M utilization patterns helps readers gauge how Medicare office visit coding has shifted over time and why those shifts attract compliance scrutiny. The article is useful for anyone evaluating billing patterns, benchmarking office visit coding, or following OIG and CMS attention to E/M services.

Article Sections

1. Chart overview and data source

   Introduces the utilization chart, the time span covered, and the Medicare data source used in the analysis.

2. Summary

   Restates the chart’s subject and the reporting context provided by the HHS Office of Inspector General report.

3. Breakdown

   Discusses broad shifts in established patient E/M service-level utilization over the decade and notes how the distribution changed across the period.

4. Takeaways

   Frames the chart in the context of compliance attention, oversight concerns, and the need to review office visit coding practices against general CPT guidance.