News: Physicians praise CMS rule on “note bloat,” criticize payment changes

Roughly 150 physician groups sent a letter to CMS Administrator Seema Verma on Monday both praising and criticizing the administration’s planned changes in the 2019 physician fee schedule, HealthLeaders Media reported.

The letter says that physicians believe CMS listened to their concerns about the administrative burdens of evaluation and management (E/M) documentation requirements.

“Excessive E/M documentation requirements do not just take time away from patient care; they also make it more difficult to locate medical information in patients’ records that is necessary to provide high quality care,” the letter says. “Physicians and other healthcare professionals are extremely frustrated by ‘note bloat’ with pages and pages of redundant information that makes it difficult to quickly find important information about the patient’s present illness or more recent test results.”

While the letter does dole out praise on CMS’ proposal, it also lays out opposition to the associated proposed payment structure.

“We oppose the implementation of this proposal because it could hurt physicians and other healthcare professionals in specialties that treat the sickest patients,” the letter says. “As well as those who provide comprehensive primary care, ultimately jeopardizing patients’ access to care.”

The full letter can be found on the American Medical Association website. The deadline to submit a comment to CMS on the proposal is September 10.

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in HealthLeaders Media. To read the full letter, click here. To read about the proposed changes and their implications, click here.