Inpatient, Observation, and Discharge Survey Invitation Sent to Active Physician SHM Members on June 4th; Survey Deadline is June 22

On June 3, active physician members of the Society of Hospital Medicine received an invitation to participate in the American Medical Association/Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC) survey for Initial and subsequent Inpatient and Observation Care Services, Discharge Services, and Admit & Discharge Same day CPT Codes.

• Initial and Subsequent Hospital Inpatient or Observation Care Services (99221, 99222 and 99223; 99231, 99232, and 99233)
• Hospital Inpatient or Observation Discharge Services (99238 and 99239)
• Hospital Inpatient or Observation Care Services Admit & Discharge Same Day (99234, 99235, and 99236)

The invitation and link to the survey came from SHM CEO, Eric E. Howell, MD, MHM. The subject line of the email reads “Please Participate.” As an active member of SHM, please look for this email and take the time to complete the survey.

As brief background, extensive changes are being made to these inpatient and observation care services codes. Notably, will be the merging of inpatient and observation codes to simplify the coding structure, but to accomplish this, a valuation must occur. Hospitalists are intimately familiar with these codes and the work that goes into them; and as such are critical to this valuation process. As you may know, Medicare payments also inform rates by private payers and Medicaid and are based on relative values for physician work, practice expense and professional liability insurance. We need your assistance to assure the recommendations for relative values will be accurately and fairly presented to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The email also contains a staff contact address should you have any difficulty completing this important survey. For more information on the RUC survey process, please watch the Understanding the RUC Survey Instrument YouTube video.

These inpatient and observation codes are long overdue for an update and this is your opportunity, as a member of SHM, to have a meaningful impact on relative values for Medicare payment as it relates to physician work and direct practice expense.