--- title: E&M Coding Changes- What You Need to Know description: E&M Coding Changes- What You Need to Know image: https://blog.metropm.com/hubfs/Medical%20Doctor%20in%20Mask.jpg --- [![Metro Practice Management, Inc.](https://blog.metropm.com/hubfs/MPM_February2019/Images/logo2.png)](http://metropm.com/) Call Us: 973-256-1998 Sales: 973-256-1998 Ext 2 - [Home](http://metropm.com/) - | - [About](http://metropm.com/about/) - [Medisoft](http://metropm.com/#) - [Medisoft](http://metropm.com/medisoft/) - [Medisoft Clinical](https://metropm.com/medisoftclinical/) - [Medisoft Add-Ons](https://metropm.com/medisoft-add-ons-programgs/) - [Medisoft Hosting](https://metropm.com/medisoft-remote-hosting/) - [Medical Billing Services / RCM](https://metropm.com/medical-billing-services-rcm/) - [NextGen Office](http://metropm.com/#) - [Nexgen Office Meditouch](https://metropm.com/nexgen-office-meditouch/) - [NextGen Office Billing Software](https://metropm.com/nextgenoffice-meditouch-billing-software/) - [NextGen Office EMR](https://metropm.com/nextgenoffice-meditouch-emr/) - [Medical Billing Services / RCM](https://metropm.com/medical-billing-services/) - [NextGen Office Patient Portal](https://metropm.com/nextgen-office-patient-portal/) - [NextGen Office Specialties](https://metropm.com/meditouch-specialties/) - [Billing Services](http://metropm.com/#) - [Medical Billing Services / RCM](http://metropm.com/medical-billing-services-rcm/) - [Workers Comp Billing](http://metropm.com/workers-comp-medical-billing/) - [Medical Billing Service Specialties](https://metropm.com/medical-billing-service/) - [Frequently Asked Questions](https://metropm.com/frequently-asked-questions/) - [Support](http://metropm.com/#) - [Online Support](https://metropm.screenconnect.com/) - [Downloads](http://metropm.com/downloads/) - [Support Plans](http://metropm.com/support/) - [About](https://metropm.com/about/) - [Blog](https://blog.metropm.com/) - [Contact](http://metropm.com/contact/) # E&M Coding Changes- What You Need to Know ### [![EMUpdates](https://blog.metropm.com/hs-fs/hubfs/EMUpdates.png?width=537&name=EMUpdates.png)](https://metropm.com/nextgenoffice-meditouch-emr/) ## Very Important Updates for ## [NextGen Office](https://metropm.com/nexgen-office-meditouch/) and [Medisoft](https://metropm.com/medisoft/)   Changes to office and outpatient evaluation management (E/M) codes will take effect on **Jan. 1, 2021**. The old system relied on documentation of a series of bullet points for History, Exam and Medical Decision Making to support a level of service. The new system for 2021 relies on documentation of medically necessary history/exam plus medical decision making or time. **As of August 2020, these changes only affect Medicare. ** What do these changes mean for you? These historic revisions will change the way physician’s document visits. The primary objectives of these revisions were: to decrease administrative burden of documentation and coding as well as decrease the need for audits, through the addition and expansion of key definitions and guidelines. These changes lessen the need for unnecessary documentation in the medical record that may not be pertinent to the patient’s care. These E/M coding changes ensure that payment for E/M is resource-based and that there is no direct goal for payment redistribution between specialties. Under the new changes, physicians can either choose to document based on Medical Decision Making (MDM) or Total Time. The three MDM sub-components changes provide extensive edits to the elements for code selection and revised/created numerous clarifying definitions in the E/M guidelines. The definition of time is minimum time, not typical time, and represents total physician/qualified health care professional (QHP) time on the date of service. The use of date-of-service time builds on the movement over the last several years by Medicare to better recognize the work involved in non-face-to-face services like care coordination. These definitions only apply when code selection is primarily based on time and not MDM. To learn more about some of these coding changes, [**click here**](https://blog.metropm.com/hubfs/PowerPoint%20Presentation.pdf) for our full presentation. It provides a deeper dive into what the E&M coding changes are and how they will affect your practice.     Click below to schedule a [NextGen Office](https://metropm.com/nextgenoffice-meditouch-emr/) Demo [![Request Demo](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/5375737/3c11393b-b54d-45ad-81b9-9e971e486581.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/5375737/3c11393b-b54d-45ad-81b9-9e971e486581) On October 9, 2020   /   [Medisoft](https://blog.metropm.com/tag/medisoft), [NextGen Office\\Meditouch](https://blog.metropm.com/tag/nextgen-officemeditouch), [eMD](https://blog.metropm.com/tag/emd), [Lytec](https://blog.metropm.com/tag/lytec)   [![Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Medical billing](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/5375737/d0d673b6-811e-47b8-a190-f182f0f6322a.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/5375737/d0d673b6-811e-47b8-a190-f182f0f6322a) ### Subscribe for Updates ### Recent Posts ### Categories - [NextGen Office\\Meditouch (64)](https://blog.metropm.com/tag/nextgen-officemeditouch) - [Medisoft (43)](https://blog.metropm.com/tag/medisoft) - [Lytec (36)](https://blog.metropm.com/tag/lytec) - [eMD (35)](https://blog.metropm.com/tag/emd) - [Outsourcing Billing Service (28)](https://blog.metropm.com/tag/outsourcing-billing-service) - [ICD-10 (3)](https://blog.metropm.com/tag/icd-10) See all - [Home](http://metropm.client.tagonline.com/) - [About](http://metropm.com/about/) - [Electronic Services](http://metropm.com/electronic-services/) - [Lytec/MD](http://metropm.com/lytec-md/) - [Medical Billing](http://metropm.com/medical-billing/) - [Medisoft](http://metropm.com/medisoft/) - [NextGen Office](http://metropm.com/meditouch/) - [Frequently Ask Questions](http://metropm.com/about/#) - [Medisoft Clinical](http://metropm.com/emr-software/medisoftclinical/) - [Practice Choice](http://metropm.com/emr-software/practice-choice/) - [Medical Billing Services](http://metropm.com/medical-billing-services/) - [NextGen Office](http://metropm.com/meditouch/) - [Medisoft Technical Support](http://metropm.com/support/) - [Blog](http://metropm.com/blog/) - [Contact](http://metropm.com/contact/) MPM, Inc 4 Century Drive Suite 230 Parsippany, NJ 07054 **Sales:** 800-503-3911 Ext 506 **Support:** 800-503-3911 Ext 505 © 2021 **Metropolitan Practice Management, Inc.**