marka1211 wrote on Tuesday, September 20, 2011:
I have noticed that when you call up a “New Encounter” form, one of the fields is for “Visit Category”. The choices for this field are Established Patient, New Patient, Office Visit, and Reserved. The same choices are available when scheduling a New Event on the calendar. E&M coding, in the USA, allows for new and established patients, as well as a separate category for “Consultations”.
What are the pros and cons of selecting “Office Visit” over “New” or “Established” patients? Is it just a matter of preference? Does the choice make a difference elsewhere in the program?