In order to fulfill the documentation requirements noted in the LFP Payment Schedule, we recommend that physicians record the start and end times for each work day. You may want to make some notes on the entry to document travel time if you practice in more than one location in a day or if you took a break for lunch etc.
This is meant to be a record keeping system to protect each physician in the event of an audit. None of the start and end time information needs to be shared unless a specific request is made by the Billing Integrity Program to the physician. The information should be stored as long as you keep your billing information.
Each physician will have to find a method that works best for them. Some possible options are:
- Use a notebook where pages cannot be added
- Use a time management app that can produce printable or downloadable records. Ensure that you save these records regularly in case the app become obsolete.
- Use your EMR to track time. Some physicians have created a fictitious patient that they use to record the start and end times.
- first name “start”, last name “end time”
- first name “time”, last name “tracker”