Arlington, Va. — The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) has updated its coding guidance for doctors of chiropractic when providing evaluation and management (E/M) services on the same date as chiropractic manipulative treatment (CMT).
ACA’s white paper on the topic, available to members on the ACA website, provides not only added clarity, but also includes scenarios to help providers and payers reach a common understanding of what is expected within clinical documentation to adequately support both the CMT and a significant, separately identifiable E/M service.
“The guidance, developed by ACA’s Health Policy and Advocacy Committee, is intended to establish baseline scenarios for when the E/M service is significant and separately identifiable from the CMT on the same date of service, which has been too vaguely described by current AMA and CMS guidance,” explained ACA President Marc Nynas, DC. “The implementation of the white paper concepts by ACA members aims to mitigate the negative impact on clinical practices that are routinely denied payment for these necessary services. The paper promotes high-value, high-quality, patient-centric health care, consistent with the high standard set by ACA documentation guidance.”
ACA’s coding, documentation, and reimbursement aids are made available under the direction of the ACA Health Policy and Advocacy Committee, which includes the association’s representatives to the American Medical Association (AMA) CPT® and RUC coding process. Members have exclusive access to 20 guidance documents covering topics such as acupuncture services, cervical pillows, X-rays and other imaging, dry needling, surface electromyography, use of physical medicine modalities, and more. For more information, visit the ACA website or contact [email protected].
About the American Chiropractic Association
The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) is the largest professional chiropractic organization in the United States. ACA attracts the most principled and accomplished chiropractors, who understand that it takes more to be called an ACA chiropractor. We are leading our profession in the most constructive and far-reaching ways — by working hand in hand with other health care professionals, by lobbying for pro-chiropractic legislation and policies, by supporting meaningful research and by using that research to inform our treatment practices. We also provide professional and educational opportunities for all our members and are committed to being a positive and unifying force for the practice of modern chiropractic. Visit acatoday.org.
