Unit/floor time added to inpatient prolonged services

Article Overview

This piece discusses a coding update to prolonged physician prolonged-service reporting in inpatient and outpatient settings. It explains the broad nature of the CPT language change, notes the relationship to Medicare Claims Processing Manual guidance, and mentions the removal of a prolonged-services modifier distinction that had been used previously. The article is aimed at coders, compliance staff, and clinicians who report prolonged E/M services and need to understand why the update matters for payer communication and documentation alignment.