New vs Established Patients / New patient visit? Established visit?

Article Overview

This brief article addresses a common evaluation and management coding question about whether a visit should be considered new or established when the patient is unfamiliar to one clinician but has been seen within the same group practice. It is aimed at coders, billers, and clinicians who need to apply general patient-status concepts consistently across physician groups and specialties. The discussion focuses on broad CPT and Medicare concepts, group practice considerations, and documentation context for office-based visit classification.