Standards of conduct generally accepted as a moral guide for behavior by which an insurance billing or coding specialist may determine the appropriateness of his or her conduct in a relationship with patients, the physician, coworkers, the government, and insurance companies.

Moral approach based on the action that best supports the relationships of the parties involved.

Cause of a disease; the study of the cause of a disease.

Customs, rules of conduct, courtesy, and manners of the medical profession.

1. Easy and painless death. 2. Act or method of causing death of an individual who is suffering from an incurable disease or condition (e.g., administering a lethal drug or withholding of treatment).

Act of careful appraisal or study to determine the significance or worth of the data collected.

Five-digit procedural codes that appear in the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code book published annually and copyrighted by the American Medical Association (AMA). These codes describe the assessment and management of a patient’s medical care and are used for encounters by providers for billing services performed in the outpatient and inpatient settings (e.g., consultations, critical care visits, office visit, hospital visits, emergency department care). E/M codes begin with 99201 and end with 99499.

Division of the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code book that contains information about medical services (e.g., physician’s office visits, hospital visits, home visits, consultations).

Nontechnical services provided by a physician in a variety of settings (e.g., physician’s office, hospital, patient’s home) to evaluate the patient and manage the patient’s condition; previously referred to as office, hospital , or home visits . Such services consist of taking a patient’s history, performing a physical examination, and cognitive medical decision-making.

Name of a section from a book titled Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) that is used to obtain codes for billing medical procedures and services. See evaluation and management (E/M) section .