CMS releases E/M frequency data annually. A physician self-elects their specialty designation when enrolling with Medicare. Infectious disease, pulmonary medicine and cardiology are all specialties with active inpatient services, and of course, busy office services. That’s why I’ve elected to show them together.
The data below is from 2023, released in late 2024.
Office services
| New OV | Infectious Disease | Pulmonary | Cardiology |
| 99201* | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| 99202 | 1.10% | 0.35% | 0.44% |
| 99203 | 15.97% | 12.77% | 10.67% |
| 99204 | 52.73% | 63.54% | 70.79% |
| 99205 | 30.20% | 23.34% | 18.10% |
*99201 was deleted in 2021
Levels 99203—99205 combined range from 99% for ID, to nearly 100% for pulmonary medicine and cardiology. But, ID bills a few more 99203 visits that either pulmonary or cardiology. Only a small fraction of new patient visits are billed as level two visits, which is understandable. 99201 was deleted from the CPT book in 2021.
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