decisionhealth Newsletters, Part B News - 2026 Issue 2 (February)
Contractor medical director: Cloned time may ‘raise red flags during audits’
Subscribe or sign in to view the full article.
Article Overview
This article covers discussion from the CPT & RBRVS 2026 Annual Symposium about documentation of time-based services in a Medicare audit context. It is relevant to physicians, coders, compliance staff, and other billing professionals who work with time-based evaluation and management or critical care documentation. The piece addresses general documentation expectations, risk management concerns, and advice on avoiding templated or cloned time entries without providing a step-by-step coding tutorial.
Why This Topic Matters
Time-based documentation is a frequent audit focus, and unclear or repetitive time entries can create compliance and risk-management concerns for practices. Understanding the article helps readers evaluate documentation habits, support accurate reporting, and reduce avoidable denials or overpayment issues.
Article Sections
-
Discussion of cloned time documentation
This section summarizes the audit-related concern raised during the symposium about repetitive time entries in patient records. It focuses on the general issue of specificity in time-based documentation.
-
Expert tip: Tie time to work
This section presents general documentation advice from a coding educator on making time entries clear and connected to work performed. It also notes broader compliance and reimbursement considerations.
-
Resource
This section provides a source reference for the external educational material cited in the article.
What You Will Learn
- How the article frames audit concerns related to time documentation
- Why specificity matters in time-based service documentation
- How documentation practices can affect compliance and risk management
- What general advice is offered for tying documented time to patient care work
Who Should Read This
- Physicians
- Medical coders
- Billing staff
- Compliance professionals
- Practice managers
Codes Discussed
Subscribe or sign in to view the full article.


Quick, Current, Complete - www.findacode.com