AMA officials who oversaw the update to office and other outpatient E/M visits (99202-99215) that went into effect earlier this year had assured members of the health care community that the organization was working on changes to other E/M codes. They were silent on which codes would be changed and when the changes would go into effect. The latest summary answers both questions.
While not as rich in detail as
the February 2019 summary that announced the overhaul of the
office E/M codes, the latest panel summary alerts coders and clinicians as to the scope of the changes, which will involve revisions to the guidelines for eight service types. The updates also include two new codes, 26 deleted codes and 41 revised codes.
You also can expect revisions to the general E/M guidelines, such as a revised medical decision-making table.
The following chart provides a quick overview of where those changes will hit.
|
Service setting/type
|
New codes
|
Deleted codes
|
Revised codes
|
|
Hospital inpatient, including observation
|
0
|
7
|
11
|
|
Consults
|
0
|
2
|
8
|
|
Emergency department
|
0
|
0
|
5
|
|
Nursing facility
|
0
|
1
|
7
|
|
Domiciliary, rest home (eg, boarding home), or custodial care
|
0
|
9
|
0
|
|
Domiciliary, rest home (eg, assisted living facility), or home care plan oversight
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
|
Home
|
0
|
1
|
8
|
|
Prolonged
|
2
|
4
|
2
|