The 2019 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule features proposed changes to the structure and payment of evaluation and management (E/M) services.
Physician stakeholders have long maintained that all E/M documentation guidelines are administratively burdensome and outdated with respect to the practice of medicine. In response to these concerns, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed to reduce the documentation requirements for most E/M services. In conjunction with the reduced documentation requirements, CMS also proposed reduced reimbursement rates for higher-level E/M visits.