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 2019, released in late 2020.
Office services
| New OV | Infectious Disease | Pulmonary | Cardiology |
| 99201 | 0.21% | 0.06% | 0.09% |
| 99202 | 2.37% | 0.84% | 1.46% |
| 99203 | 21.81% | 13.76% | 15.63% |
| 99204 | 52.32% | 60.73% | 63.49% |
| 99205 | 23.29% | 24.61% | 19.33% |
Levels 99203—99205 combined range from 97% for ID, to 99% for pulmonary medicine and 98% for 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 one or two visits, which is understandable.
Login to read the rest of this article
Don’t have a login? Become a member, or learn more about the benefits of membership by clicking on the link below.
Get Unlimited Access to CodingIntel’s Online Library
Are you a coder, biller, administrator,
office manager or physician?
Learn more about the benefits of
a CodingIntel membership