Code
Check - Smartphone Medical Coding App
| Frustrated with medical
documentation? Code Check can help! Physicians are busy and medical documentation is confusing. And no one likes audits. Code Check is a physician created medical documentation and coding application. Documentation requirements are presented in a clear, concise format. In just 3 easy steps you can find all the information you need to document a patient encounter! Features unique to Code Check
Wow! Code Check sounds great! Why is it no longer in the iTunes App Store? Code Check was removed from the iTunes App store in August of 2012 after the American Medical Association (AMA) threatened us with a copyright infringement lawsuit over the use of numbers like 223, 222, and 221 in Code Check. These numbers are abbreviated CPT codes (corresponding to 99223, 99222, and 99221). The American Medical Association owns the CPT coding system and asserts that they have the exclusive rights to the use of numeric codes for health care services. Why don't you fight the American Medical Association in court over this? The AMA is a large, wealthy, and politically powerful non-for-profit corporation. We just don't have the cash or the desire for a multimillion dollar legal battle to save Code Check. Has the AMA targeted other developers of medical coding apps? They sure have. Stat E&M Coder was targeted, and has been re-released without the numeric codes. Customer reviews of the new Stat E&M Coder have not been favorable. We do not want to create a update for Code Check that downgrades the utility of the app we worked so hard to create, and is loved by our customers Why is the AMA targeting developers of useful tools to physicians, particularly when the AMA says it advocates on behalf of physicians? First, they want to get licensing fees for the CPT codes, which would add some $15 to the cost of each copy of Code Check. That is not going to work for a free medical app! Second, they may want to protect their E&M coding app in the iTunes App store - CPT QuickRef, which has consistently rated much lower than Code Check and Stat E&M Coder. I am not happy about how the AMA has treated Code Check and Stat E&M Coder! What can I do? If you are a member of the AMA, you can contact the AMA and explain why you don't think their effort is in the best interest of doctors in the United States. You can also contact your representatives in Congress and ask them to require Medicare to use a free and open coding system for medical services, not the CPT. You can also download and rate CPT QuickRef, the AMA created E&M coding app, and indicate your distaste for their heavy handed tactics of eliminating the competition. |
 
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