David Williams on the travesty of code blending:
Anthem seems to be acting shortsighted. Assuming that Anthem and other payers gain from EHR adoption, they should allow physicians to generate higher revenues through improved documentation. That will encourage adoption. Indeed, studies of the benefits of EHR adoption typically include “increased reimbursement from more accurate evaluation and management coding” among the benefits to physicians.Once EHR adoption has increased to say 75 percent, it may be in Anthem’s interest to blend codes or reduce reimbursement for a given code. But with EHR adoption stuck at around 15-20 percent (at least in smaller practices) that point is nowhere near being reached. Anthem may cost itself more in the long run by taking away an economic incentive for EHR adoption.
