Challenges of Billing
One of the most buzz worthy topics at the recent HIMSS conference was CMS’ new CPT code for chronic care management (CCM). The code will pay providers and care teams $43 PMPM for the non-face-to-face time they spend managing complex, chronically ill patients’ health. Scaled across patient panels and office practices, this represents no small amount of potential new revenue. Yet, the billing requirements accompanying the new payments are complex and comprehensive, with considerable implications for workflow, documentation, IT customization, patient engagement, and more. This month’s domain monitor provides a high level outline of the new CCM code, a breakdown of the major challenges practices face in billing for it, and some early signs of how the health IT industry is responding to the opportunity with new solution capabilities.