I am the CEO of a large physician network in CT.
There were four new CPT codes for 2008:
99441 PHONE E/M BY PHYS 5-10 MIN
99442 PHONE E/M BY PHYS 11-20 MIN
99443 PHONE E/M BY PHYS 21-30 MIN
99444 ONLINE E/M BY PHYSUnfortunately, in my state (CT) hardly any of the large healthplans will pay for these codes, even though Medicare pays for 99441-444 in 2009 ($15-$41). It is hard to get physicians to adopt new modes of patient care if they are forced to make large investments in technology with scant prospects for reimbursement for services utilizing this new technology. I guess we all must hope that the big EHR vendors will all provide free upgrades (dream on) to make sure their products can guarantee 'meaningful use" in 2011 so docs can receive some of their investment returned. I'm not holding my breath.
From "The Health Care Blog: The Doctor Is In and Logged On."
Perhaps by 2011 we'll finally get around to the Year of eHealth, and then by 2015 we may be approaching the mHealth era...that is, if our healthcare reform budget doesn't become the next financial system fiasco.
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