The Demand for Documentation for Medicare Payment

Sometime in 1998, as ably chronicled by Brett,1 a long-simmering disagreement over an arcane administrative construct — documentation guidelines for physicians to use in coding evaluation and management services billed to Medicare — was transformed into a pitched battle. Before long, the struggle deteriorated into high melodrama.1,2 Against the backdrop of several nationally publicized cases of fraudulent billing, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) drew the battle lines, backed by federal regulatory, investigative, and punitive clout. Taking the rhetorical high road, HCFA aimed to protect the public purse against avaricious doctors bent on waste, fraud, and abuse.Along with . . .