Auditor/Coder Super Bundle: Everything You Need to Start 2022 Right

New year, new you? Let’s kick off 2022 by being more efficient and working smarter, not harder. A great way to do it as an auditor or coder is to stay informed and ahead of the curve. And to help you along the way, we’ve put together a bundle of our hardest hitting content pieces from 2021.

E/M codes have changed and will continue to impact coding, documentation, and auditing, so we need to be prepared. “The goal of the Patients Over Paperwork Initiative was to reduce the administrative burden for practitioners, allowing them to focus more on the patient and less on paperwork. This was meant to be achieved by reducing documentation requirements such as HPI elements, ROS, or past family social history. Practitioners’ primary focus should be the clinical care of the patient. The goal is to move away from the box-checking methodology of leveling an office visit and direct more focus on medical decision making.”

New and improved methods have been created to understand patient problems better, allowing us to be more accurate. “Along with the 2021 E/M changes, we auditors need to evolve too. We need to think differently. Rather than reading the note, top to bottom, then looking for words to check off our bullets, we must think more like clinicians and understand who the patient is. By doing so, you’ll be more informed and, therefore, more likely to select the correct level of service. With that philosophy in mind, we developed a new 3-Pronged Approach to understand the patient’s problem better.”

And knowing how and when to apply the new prolonged codes has become an art in and of itself. With the new E/M guidelines in January 2021, we now have two different Prolonged Codes to use. That results from the different calculations defined by the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Final Fee Schedule. While CPT^® instructs us to use code 99417, CMS instructs us to use HCPCS code G2122. This divergence has left many coders and auditors scratching our heads, trying to understand the lingering questions and uncertainty around how to apply these guidelines correctly.

Find the knowledge you need to be the very best coder/auditor so you can do your job with Jedi-like mastery and confidence. Being the best at what you do has its advantages other than looking amazing on LinkedIn; it can also save you loads of time in the long run. This means you can finally take that dream vacation or keep your resolution to take up knitting or banjo lessons.

Download “New Year Bundle: The Best of Coding and Auditing 2021” for the most relevant auditing information, written by our rockstar auditing experts, all in one place right now. In this bundle, you’ll get these three eBriefs:

• Setting the Record Straight: How and When to Apply the New Prolonged Codes
• Three-Pronged Approach: How to Better Understand a Patient’s Problem
• 2021 EM Changes (Parts 1-4): The Impact Beyond Coding and Documentation