Changes are coming with Evaluation and Management (E&M) coding guidelines. I will use this space to explain why these changes will be both a good thing and a challenge to physicians, particularly those who derive much of their income from office visits. CHANGE IS OVERDUE It has been 20 years since the 1997 E&M guidelines were promulgated. They were confusing to most physicians then and remain confusing today. One study from the Journal of Family Practice showed that physicians are accurate in their E&M coding only 55 percent of the time, yet Mitchell King, MD provided a fascinating follow-up investigation in the Archives of Internal Medicine that showed certified coding …