A concise evaluation and management curriculum for physicians in training improved billing at an outpatient academic rheumatology clinic.
OBJECTIVE
To study whether providing house staff with a brief lecture and handout about proper documentation could improve billing at an academic rheumatology clinic.


METHODS
The authors created an educational sheet about documentation and billing after a review of the common documentation omissions responsible for down coding (Appendix, Supplemental Digital Content 1, available at: http://links.lww.com/RHU/A8). Beginning in November of 2006, the house staff were provided with this sheet and a brief lecture regarding how outpatient evaluation and management levels of service are coded. The results of clinic billing from January 1, 2006 to October 31, 2006 and November 1, 2006 to August 31, 2007 were obtained from the physician billing office. The authors compared the average level of service, by appointment type, in the prepost comparison periods using the student t test.


RESULTS
There was a significant improvement in the level of service billed for new visits (P < 0.001), consults (P < 0.001), and return visits (P < 0.001) after November 1, 2006. The percentage of patients evaluated for the first time who were billed as consults improved from 15% to 78% (P < 0.001 by chi2). These changes resulted in $34,342 of additional billing during the postintervention period.


CONCLUSIONS
A simple strategy for educating the house staff about proper documentation of the history, physical examination, and clinical decision making resulted in a significant improvement in an academic rheumatology division's outpatient billing.
Hirsh
Joel M
JM
Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, CO 80204, USA. joel.hirshMD@dhha.org
Collier
David H
DH
Boyle
Dennis J
DJ
Gardner
Edward M
EM
D039702:Current Procedural Terminology; D003479:Curriculum; D005249:Fees and Charges; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000191:economics*; D012219:Rheumatology