CPT Editorial Panel sends E&M revisions to HCFA

The Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) Editorial Panel of the American Medical Association (AMA) in Chicago has submitted its final recommendations to the Health Care Financing Administration regarding revision of the agency’s controversial evaluation and management (E&M) codes.

Proposed revisions have been in the works since the dawn of the Physicians at Teaching Hospitals (PATH) investigation in 1997, when the Philadelphia-based University of Pennsylvania Medical Center paid $30 million to settle charges that its physicians had used E&M codes incorrectly.

The recommended changes include finding ways to de-emphasize the controversial requirement that physicians count the number of items performed in a physical examination, according to the AMA.