As more health systems bill for MyChart messages, the most common diagnoses for these charges include hypertension and sinus and other respiratory infections, a new study found.
CPT billing codes were enacted in 2020 to allow providers to charge for patient portal messages that require medical expertise and at least five minutes of their time. For the Jan. 10 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers analyzed claims for so-called "e-visits" conducted between January 2020 and September 2022.
Here are the most common diagnoses for three billing codes associated with patient portal messages:
Messages that take five to 10 minutes
1. Acute sinusitis (7.1%)
2. Urinary tract infection (7%)
3. Acute respiratory infection (4.5%)
4. Hypertension (2.9%)
5. COVID-19 (2.6%)
Messages that take 11 to 20 minutes
1. Acute respiratory infection (4.2%)
2. Acute sinusitis (4.1%)
3. Hypertension (3.8%)
4. COVID-19 (3.5%)
5. Acute pharyngitis (2.3%)
Messages that take 21 minutes or longer
1. Hypertension (18%)
2. General medical examination without abnormal findings (13%)
3. Suspected exposure to other viruses (3.4%)
4. Suspected exposure to COVID-19 (2.5%)
5. Suspected exposure to other biological agents (2.5%)