November 18, 2020

For years, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have heard from physicians and psychiatric clinical staff that the CPT codes for Evaluation & Management (E&M) services were overly burdensome with documentation. Recently, CMS responded by issuing guidance in collaboration with the American Medical Association (AMA), which governs CPT codes, to make a number of significant changes designed to reduce the compliance burden on clinical and billing staff and, in doing so, expand patient care opportunities. The new E&M service codes and accompanying requirements will be effective January 1, 2021.

The New York State Council is committed to ensuring all of our member organizations have the information they need to manage the upcoming transition, and to make the most of these changes.    We are delighted to announce that we are hosting two trainings for our members entitled, “Understanding New Guidelines for Office & Outpatient E/M Services Effective 2021.”  

As requested by our NYS Council ‘Billing Geeks’ group, we will be hosting two Webinar trainings:

• Monday, November 30 from 2:00-4:00 pm for NYS Council member agency coding, billing and reimbursement staff 
• Thursday, December 10 from 7-8 pm for NYS Council member agency prescribers and others

These sessions are designed for NYS Council member agency staff who need to understand office/outpatient evaluation and management code changes that take effect 1/1/2021.  Both events will provide easy to understand facts about the upcoming changes to documentation and code selection requirements with a focus on mental health and substance use disorder services, and how to leverage the new guidelines to reflect complexity of care, and select the correct code.  All NYS Council member agencies should attend one of these Webinars to learn how the upcoming changes can compliment your work AND enhance your bottomline. 

Please stand by for more information to include content for each Webinar, and instructions on how to register for these events. In the meantime, SAVE THE DATES!