How to avoid Medicare annual wellness visit denials -- FPM
Identifying whether to code for an Initial Preventive Physical Exam (aka the Welcome to Medicare visit), an Initial Medicare Annual Wellness Visit (AWV) or a Subsequent Medicare AWV can be tricky.
Family Practice Management : Getting Paid : FPM Home
https://www.aafp.org/journals/fpm/blogs/gettingpaid/entry/medicare_awv_coding.html
Coding Level 4 Office Visits Using the New E/M Guidelines -- FPM
Feb 1, 2021 - Determining whether the visit you’ve just finished should be coded as a level 4 could be as simple as asking yourself three questions.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2021/0100/p27.html
E/M Changes for 2021: The Beginning, Not the End -- FPM
Feb 1, 2021 - The E/M coding revisions aren’t perfect, but they represent a huge step forward in reducing physicians’ documentation burden, audit risk, and complexity of code selection.
Family Practice Management : Opinion
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2021/0100/p8.html
Tips for using total time to code E/M office visits in 2021 -- FPM
Some tips for coding using total time under the new rules for E/M office visits that take effect Jan. 1, plus an example of a visit well-suited for time-based coding.
Family Practice Management : Getting Paid : FPM Home
https://www.aafp.org/journals/fpm/blogs/gettingpaid/entry/total_time_tips.html
2021 outpatient office E/M changes FAQ -- FPM
Documentation and coding requirements for outpatient evaluation and management services will change starting Jan. 1. Here are some answers to common questions about the changes.
Family Practice Management : Quick Tips : FPM Home
https://www.aafp.org/journals/fpm/blogs/inpractice/entry/em_changes_FAQ.html
Countdown to the E/M Coding Changes -- FPM
Oct 1, 2020 - The biggest changes in coding since 1997 will take effect Jan. 1, 2021. It is time to prepare for them now.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2020/0900/p29.html
Coding & Documentation - Sep-Oct 2020 -- FPM
Oct 1, 2020 - Coding for COVID-19 when testing isn't available | Diagnosis codes for recovered patients| Coding symptoms that linger | Diagnosis codes for antibody testing| CPT codes for antigen testing
Family Practice Management : Coding & Documentation
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2020/0900/p41.html
Creating Intentional Professional Connections to Reduce Loneliness, Isolation, and ...
Oct 1, 2020 - Pretending we have it together and can do it all on our own is the fastest way to professional isolation and burnout. Fortunately, there’s a better way.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2020/0900/p20.html
Racism in Health Care: Creating a More Equitable Health Care Experience -- FPM
Oct 1, 2020 - Imagine how it would feel to walk into a doctor’s office and see that everyone else looks different from you.
Family Practice Management : From the Editor
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2020/0900/p3.html
Emotional Intelligence: Five Ways to Have Better Interactions and Improve Your Work ...
Oct 1, 2020 - These simple tools can help you respond effectively when you feel emotionally hijacked by difficult people or circumstances.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2020/0900/p9.html
Building an Outdoor Urgent Care Clinic During a Pandemic: One Clinic's Experience -- FPM
Oct 1, 2020 - When an infectious disease outbreak strikes, an outdoor clinic can reduce the risk of transmission and conserve personal protective equipment.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2020/0900/p14.html
Coding & Documentation - Jul-Aug 2020 -- FPM
Aug 1, 2020 - Lab tests requiring modifier QW | Newborn: new patient or not? | Shared services for new patients | Coding sex-specific services for transgender patients | Pacemaker due to sick sinus syndrome
Family Practice Management : Coding & Documentation
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2020/0700/p36.html
Ten EHR Strategies for Efficient Documentation -- FPM
Aug 1, 2020 - Applying even one of these 10 strategies can help you reduce frustration, improve productivity, and get home earlier.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2020/0700/p5.html
Implementing Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring in Primary Care Practice -- FPM
Jun 1, 2020 - In-office blood pressure readings are often inaccurate or insufficient. Here’s a way to get a better picture of how your patients are doing and get paid for it.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2020/0500/p19.html
Practice Pearls - May-Jun 2020 -- FPM
Jun 1, 2020 - Check for COVID-19 updates on home isolation and work notes | Ask patients to submit vitals before telehealth | Adapt your documentation setup for telehealth
Family Practice Management : Practice Pearls
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2020/0500/p32.html
How to collect patient vitals for telehealth visits, including AWVs -- FPM
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently clarified how physicians can collect biometric data for Medicare annual wellness visits from patients who are in their homes.
Family Practice Management : Quick Tips : FPM Home
https://www.aafp.org/journals/fpm/blogs/inpractice/entry/telehealth_visit_vitals.html
Five steps to set up ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in your practice -- FPM
Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) provides more accurate data than in-office blood pressure checks, which is useful for identifying issues that might otherwise stay hidden and ruling out white coat hypertension.
Family Practice Management : Quick Tips : FPM Home
https://www.aafp.org/journals/fpm/blogs/inpractice/entry/ambulatory_bp_monitoring.html
Encounter Forms -- FPM Toolbox
May 4, 2020 - Download encounter forms to help ensure accurate documentation for asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and other conditions common in primary care.
Family Practice Management : FPM Toolbox : Encounter Forms
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/toolBox/viewToolType.htm?toolTypeId=12
Coding for Hypertension: Painting a Picture of the Severity of Illness -- FPM
Apr 1, 2020 - As risk-adjustment scoring increases, the pressure is on to code hypertension correctly. Here’s an overview using common patient scenarios.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2020/0300/p23.html
Caring for Me Is Caring for You: The Power of Self-Care and Personal Transformation -- FPM
Apr 1, 2020 - Want to see change in your team, your organization, or beyond? Start by filling your own tank.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2020/0300/p17.html
Looking Beyond Diagnostic Criteria -- FPM
Apr 1, 2020 - The power of family medicine is seeing patients as more than just signs and symptoms.
Family Practice Management : The Last Word
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2020/0300/p36.html
A three-step guide to coding for multiple skin procedures in a single visit -- FPM
Follow these three steps to bill correctly, avoid denials, and make sure you’re not leaving revenue on the table when you perform skin biopsies and lesion removals.
Family Practice Management : Quick Tips : FPM Home
https://www.aafp.org/journals/fpm/blogs/inpractice/entry/skin_procedure_coding.html
Four ways to target blood pressure control -- FPM
Four steps to get your patients on the path to better blood pressure.
Family Practice Management : Quick Tips : FPM Home
https://www.aafp.org/journals/fpm/blogs/inpractice/entry/blood_pressure_control.html
How to Use Group Visits to Manage Obesity -- FPM
Oct 1, 2019 - Clinic and community resources combine to support patients in this unique group-visit model.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2019/0900/p20.html
The Nurse Closer: Using Nonclinician Staff to Make Patient Visits More Efficient -- FPM
Aug 1, 2019 - With a little training, nurses can wrap up the patient visit, reducing errors, improving patient satisfaction, and freeing up time for providers.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2019/0700/p13.html
Practice Pearls - May-Jun 2019 -- FPM
Jun 1, 2019 - Create annual visit plans for your patients | Use your EHR to close care gaps | Use passwords to practice mindfulness
Family Practice Management : Practice Pearls
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2019/0500/p32.html
How to create simple annual visit plans for your patients -- FPM
Family physicians often have to think through a patient's future care needs during a visit, which can hurt efficiency and allow things to go unaddressed. Creating annual visit plans with each patient may help.
Family Practice Management : Quick Tips : FPM Home
https://www.aafp.org/journals/fpm/blogs/inpractice/entry/annual_visit_planning.html
What standing orders can do for your practice -- FPM
Standing orders allow nurses, medical assistants, or other health care team members to perform certain clinical tasks, freeing the physician to focus on complex care. Here's how to make standing orders work for you.
Family Practice Management : Quick Tips : FPM Home
https://www.aafp.org/journals/fpm/blogs/inpractice/entry/potential_standing_orders.html
Skin Deep: How to Properly Code for Biopsies and Lesion Removal -- FPM
Apr 1, 2019 - Learn about the new skin biopsy codes, and follow these tips to make sure you get full credit for the skin procedures you perform.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2019/0300/p15.html
Medicare Wellness Visits: Reassessing Their Value to Your Patients and Your Practice --...
Apr 1, 2019 - Providing Medicare wellness visits can be challenging but can improve quality and practice revenue.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2019/0300/p25.html
Tools for Better Dementia Care -- FPM
Feb 1, 2019 - Quality measures and clinical tools can bring focus and clarity to caring for patients with cognitive impairment and supporting their caregivers.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2019/0100/p11.html
The No. 1 question about team documentation -- FPM
To ease physicians’ administrative burdens, many practices are adopting team documentation, which involves increasing the MA-to-physician ratio and delegating more tasks to MAs. How do you convince your practice to try it?
Family Practice Management : Quick Tips : FPM Home
https://www.aafp.org/journals/fpm/blogs/inpractice/entry/team_documentation_question.html
Coding & Documentation - Nov-Dec 2018 -- FPM
Dec 1, 2018 - When the chief complaint is medication refill | 99221 for second hospital encounter? | Staph infection of a wound
Family Practice Management : Coding & Documentation
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2018/1100/p32.html
Quality Measures: How to Get Them Right -- FPM
Aug 1, 2018 - Pay-for-performance programs have produced disappointing results. Fewer and more appropriate, evidence-based quality measures could help.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2018/0700/p23.html
ICD-10 coding for patients with hypertension and heart failure -- FPM
Here’s how to code for heart failure when it is not caused by your patient’s hypertension.
Family Practice Management : Quick Tips : FPM Home
https://www.aafp.org/journals/fpm/blogs/inpractice/entry/hypertension_heart_failure.html
Coding & Documentation - May-Jun 2018 -- FPM
Jun 1, 2018 - ICD-10 coding for hypertension and diabetes | Physician certification of diabetic shoes | Umbilical cauterization
Family Practice Management : Coding & Documentation
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2018/0500/p33.html
Developing Standing Orders to Help Your Team Work to the Highest Level -- FPM
Jun 1, 2018 - Use this seven-step plan to create protocols that improve efficiency and reduce physician workloads.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2018/0500/p13.html
Deprescribing Unnecessary Medications: A Four-Part Process -- FPM
Jun 1, 2018 - With too many patients taking too many unnecessary medications, deprescribing has become a required skill for primary care physicians. Here’s how to go about it.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2018/0500/p28.html
How to document newly diagnosed hypertension -- FPM
If a patient’s elevated blood pressure has developed into hypertension, your documentation should clearly describe the basis for the new diagnosis.
Family Practice Management : Quick Tips : FPM Home
https://www.aafp.org/journals/fpm/blogs/inpractice/entry/properly_documenting_hypertension.html
Diagnosis Coding for Value-Based Payment: A Quick Reference Tool -- FPM
Apr 1, 2018 - Use this cheat sheet to identify diagnosis codes that are weighted for risk adjustment.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2018/0300/p26.html
Is Your Diagnosis Coding Ready for Risk Adjustment? -- FPM
Apr 1, 2018 - As payment models change, diagnosis coding is more important than ever. Here’s how to be sure your codes capture your patients’ severity of illness.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2018/0300/p21.html
It's Time to Go RAFing -- FPM
Apr 1, 2018 - What you don’t know about risk-adjustment factor scores could cost you.
Family Practice Management : From the Editor
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2018/0300/p5.html
A Team-Based Care Model That Improves Job Satisfaction -- FPM
Apr 1, 2018 - Expanding the role of medical assistants to better support providers can improve not only traditional outcomes but also job satisfaction.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2018/0300/p6.html
Coding & Documentation - Mar-Apr 2018 -- FPM
Apr 1, 2018 - Time spent on chronic care management vs. time spent on E/M services | ICD-10 coding for bug bites | Billing for palliative care visits
Family Practice Management : Coding & Documentation
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2018/0300/p41.html
Coding: ICD-10 -- FPM Toolbox
Feb 23, 2018 - Download FPM's coding guides and cheat sheets to help you understand ICD-10 coding and select the right codes.
Family Practice Management : FPM Toolbox : Coding: ICD-10
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/toolBox/viewToolType.htm?toolTypeId=30
Coding & Documentation - Jan-Feb 2018 -- FPM
Feb 1, 2018 - Reciprocal billing during extended absences | ICD-10 coding for accidents without injury | Removal of impacted cerumen
Family Practice Management : Coding & Documentation
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2018/0100/p33.html
Reducing Frustration and Increasing Fulfillment: Reframing -- FPM
Oct 1, 2017 - To better handle challenging patients or situations, try modifying the way you view them.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2017/0900/p12.html
Technology Tools and Trends for Better Patient Care: Beyond the EHR -- FPM
Oct 1, 2017 - From remote monitoring of chronic diseases to virtual assistants in the exam room, technology will improve practice.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2017/0900/p28.html
Finding the Bright Spots in Value-Based Care -- FPM
Oct 1, 2017 - Taking one small step at a time, primary care practices can lead the way as the health care system begins to reward value.
Family Practice Management : Articles
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2017/0900/p21.html
Coding & Documentation - Sep-Oct 2017 -- FPM
Oct 1, 2017 - ...Diagnosis coding for hypertension and heart failure Medicare payment for telemedicine home visits ICD-10 code updates for Oct. 1 Q What changes to ICD-10 codes for 2017–2018 will affect family medicine the most? A About 750 total changes will be implemented on Oct. 1, 2017 – many...
Family Practice Management : Coding & Documentation
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2017/0900/p34.html