Contents tagged with katerndahl

  • TAFP member’s research basis for AAFP recommendation to CMS

    Tags: medicare, medicaid, centers for medicare and medicaid services, katerndahl, payment, evaluation, coding

    Wednesday, April 10, 2013 1:28:00 PM
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    AAFP recently submitted a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services urging them to create a new set of evaluation and management codes for primary care physicians. The recommendation, sent to CMS Acting Principal Deputy Administrator Jonathan Blum, was accompanied by supporting documents based on the research of TAFP member David Katerndahl, M.D., M.A.

    The Academy suggested that CMS create the codes and include them in the 2014 Medicare physician fee schedule. AAFP Board Chair Glen Stream, M.D., said in the letter that a new payment model is necessary for the country to reach better health care for people and populations, as well as lower health care costs. “That system should recognize the complexity of ambulatory care provided by primary care physicians and reward the quality of services provided in their practices,” said Stream.

    New E/M codes that differentiate primary care physicians from specialists or subspecialists would show the true value of both types of care, rather than devalue them as the current coding system does. Katerndahl’s research shows that the complexity of a primary care physician’s patient visit including E/M is much different than those with other specialists.

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