decisionhealth Newsletters, Coder Pink Sheets - 2020 Issue 5 (May)
Understanding E/M: Use time or MDM to code telehealth office E/M, telephone E/M covered
Subscribe or sign in to view the full article.
Article Overview
This article explains an interim final rule affecting evaluation-and-management services during the COVID-19 emergency. It is relevant to clinicians, coders, and billing staff who need to understand temporary telehealth office visit policy, telephone encounter reporting, and the professional settings and code sets involved. The discussion focuses on how the rule relates to office/outpatient telehealth E/M and telephone-based services, along with the governing federal context.
Why This Topic Matters
The guidance affects how certain patient encounters were billed during the public health emergency and how providers interpreted temporary federal policy changes. It is important for teams responsible for compliant E/M reporting and for understanding how emergency-era telehealth flexibility intersected with standard coding systems.
Article Sections
-
COVID-19 emergency E/M policy changes
Introduces temporary E/M-related changes tied to the COVID-19 public health emergency and the effective period for the policy.
-
Telehealth office E/M
Summarizes the temporary telehealth policy affecting office/outpatient E/M services and the general framework referenced in the rule.
-
Telephone E/M visits
Covers the temporary telephone-based service guidance, including the code sets referenced for physician and nonphysician reporting.
What You Will Learn
- How the interim rule changes E/M reporting during the COVID-19 public health emergency
- What general categories of telehealth office visit guidance are addressed
- What broad categories of telephone encounter services are discussed
- Which professional groups are mentioned in connection with the temporary policy
- How the article frames the relationship between Medicare telehealth, office visits, and phone-based services
Who Should Read This
- Medical coders
- Billing staff
- Compliance professionals
- Physicians and qualified health care professionals
- Telehealth administrators
Codes Discussed
Subscribe or sign in to view the full article.
Quick, Current, Complete - www.findacode.com