Right on! on E/M documentation guidelines
Editor's note: The April FP Report quoted AAFP President Neil Brooks, M.D., as saying the 1997 E/M guidelines were "too flawed to be fixed."
To the editor:
WELL SAID!!! The comments of AAFP President Neil Brooks are most appreciated. The arguments you (Brooks) made to the Physicians Advisory Council were reflective of my own observations on the E/M guidelines.
I have tried to use the guidelines several times to see how much extra time it takes, and it takes quite a bit! One elderly woman, a longtime patient, said, "Why are you writing something down already ... we haven't even done anything yet!" I told her I was just trying to satisfy my government that I was taking proper care of her by "treating the chart." This is where the process comes between the physician and the patient.
EDWARD C. WHITE, M.D.
Cleveland
To the editor:
Three cheers to a family physician (Dr. Neil Brooks) who understands our practice and speaks out. The E/M guidelines are a burden that family physicians should not have to endure.
MICHAEL J. TUROCK, M.D.
Scranton, Pa.P.S. I have been in solo practice for 25 years.
To the editor:
The new E/M documentation guidelines are the "straw that broke the camel's back." I have opted out of Medicare and will now contract privately with each Medicare patient that I see.
These same patients still qualify for traditional Medicare reimbursement at emergency rooms, hospitals, laboratories, etc. The only things they must pay for are office visits and office procedures performed in my office.
A recent study has shown that the average Medicare patient spends $2,149 for out-of-pocket expenses annually. So the expense of a routine office visit is not going to make that much of a difference, but will make the practice of medicine more enjoyable to the physician.
G.E. WIDDIFIELD, M.D.
Indianapolis
To the editor:
Please pass on to Dr. Neil Brooks my complete support for an all-out effort to block Medicare E/M billing. I fully agree with all the points discussed in the April FP Report. As a practicing FP for 38 years, it (the 1997 E/M guidelines proposal) is easily the worst assault on patient care I have ever seen.
WALT MORGAN, M.D.
Sacramento, Calif.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 1998 by American Academy of Family Physicians.