Dr. Rob looks at the morass we call E/M coding. He points out one fatal flaw with the proliferation with EHRs:
One of the solutions to this is to use an electronic medical record (like mine). These programs often include tools to properly match the coding to the documentation and suggest how to document in a way that would result in better codes (and better pay). The problem with this is that it results in every note being far more verbose than is useful to the physician. Often when looking for information in the chart of a patient whose physician uses an EMR is like trying to find a number in the phone book. Most of the information is not there for any other reason than to placate the E/M gods.
