E/Ms up in 5-year review

Why This Topic Matters

The article highlights how changes in Medicare valuation for evaluation and management services can shift payment across specialties, with ophthalmology facing notable impacts. It helps readers gauge whether the proposed rule may affect practice revenue, coding strategy awareness, and fee schedule planning.

Article Sections

1. Bad news for ophthalmologists

   This section introduces the proposed Medicare payment changes and their potential effect on ophthalmology. It places the discussion in the context of CMS rulemaking and the broader redistribution of relative value units.

2. 66984, 66821 targeted

   This section focuses on selected ophthalmology procedures and the proposed work-value adjustments associated with them. It also discusses how specialty review groups and CMS evaluated the changes.

3. More time with patients

   This section addresses the broader evaluation and management payment discussion and its possible implications for patient-facing services. It also notes the distinction between general E/M services and ophthalmology-specific eye exam code families.

4. Work RVU changes proposed for ophthalmology

   This section presents a tabular summary of proposed ophthalmology work and practice-expense value changes for multiple CPT codes. It serves as a comparative overview of the affected service categories.