E/M on the horizon: Payment, coding, documentation changes to come

Why This Topic Matters

These changes affect how common E/M visits are valued, documented, and reported, so they have broad operational impact for practices across specialties. Understanding the scope of the upcoming revisions helps organizations prepare for workflow, compliance, and reimbursement updates.

Article Sections

1. Payment and documentation changes delayed to 2021

   Introduces the timing of the CMS policy changes and summarizes the broader areas of E/M impact covered in the article.

2. Payment structure for office/outpatient E/M codes

   Describes the general redesign of payment buckets for office and outpatient E/M services and the categories of codes affected.

3. Documentation guideline options

   Covers the documentation framework changes and the broad policy choices practices may have under the revised approach.

4. Primary care and specialty add-on codes

   Summarizes the introduction of add-on concepts tied to certain E/M encounters and the general purpose of those services.

5. Extended service time option

   Explains the new prolonged-service concept and the general relationship between typical service time and additional reported time.