On April 9, 2021, ACP co-hosted the Evaluation and Management (E/M) State of the Note Summit with the Electronic Health Record Association (EHRA) to discuss clinical documentation best practices considering the recent 2021 E/M documentation updates. The Summit was attended by various physician societies and EHR vendors. Among other things, a goal of the collaborative work was to identify answers to such questions as how much detail is necessary without adding additional documentation burden and note bloat. The discussions began with an overview of the E/M changes and were followed by small-group breakout sessions to learn, share, and evaluate E/M coding guidance by distinguishing the “good” and “bad” of an example note and developing a consensus “good note” and recommendations to minimize burden in documentation. Please keep an eye out for future updates as EHRA and ACP break down the lessons learned and identify next steps.
With implementation of the health information technology provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act fully taking effect on April 5, 2021, the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange hosted a day-long examination of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology's Information Blocking Regulations. When implemented effectively, the regulations reduce unnecessary complexity and burden in providing health information to individuals and other entities. ACP staff spoke at the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange event on exceptions to prohibited exchange practices, as well as to patient advocacy groups on how information blocking will address their health care concerns and a compliance panel. More information on the event may be found on the event webpage.
If you would like to work with your chapter to advocate for regulatory relief during the COVID-19 crisis, please visit ACP's Chapter Advocacy Toolkit for more resources and calls to action.
ACP Patients Before Paperwork Initiative
Patients Before Paperwork is an ACP initiative designed to reinvigorate the patient–physician relationship by challenging unnecessary practice burdens. To help the Patients Before Paperwork Initiative, provide your feedback with our online data collection tool and contact the Patients Before Paperwork team directly at policy-regs@acponline.org.
Back to the May 21, 2021 issue of ACP IM Thriving