I would have to say that every doctor I know is an ethical, reasonable practitioner who never knowingly commits medical fraud. I know many of us in the past have been guilty of some coding errors; however, fraud means that you are mis-representing the actual facts. If you think something is a 99214 and bill it as such, then later lose an audit and it is changed to a 99213, then that is not fraud. However, if you think it is a 99213 and you bill for a 99214 anyways, then you are committing fraud.
Most of us do not commit fraud. However, if you have an EMR that automatically (or by clicking a button) 'rolls forward' the Past Medical, Social, or Family History (or Review of Systems), you better be careful!!! Why?
Let's take past medical history for example. This consists of the problem list, medication list, allergies, immunizations, hospitalizations, surgeries, and nutrition. If you ask your patient "have you had any changes in your medical history?" and they say "no" then the appropriate thing to put in your note is "Past Medical History: Patient denies any changes." If you copy and paste the entire Medical History forward, then you have just committed fraud at the moment you sign your name to it.
You are now stating that I reviewed their entire surgical history with the patient and they agree with it and there are no changes to be made. I reviewed their entire hospitalization history with the patient and they agree with it and there are no changes. Same for meds, allergies, immunizations, etc. Did you do that? If not, then you are LYING when you sign your name to it. It is the same as signing your name to a cardiovascular exam that you did not perform. We would never dream of asking "has there been any change in your pelvic exam since last time?" then copying and pasting forward what the patient's pelvic exam was the last time it was done. And you should know this!
The same thing goes for past Social history, Family History, and Review of systems. It is much more accurate to just simply include in the past history the items that were done for today. If you only asked about smoking, then only put their smoking status in today's Social History. There is no need to include all the other things unless they are important enough that you asked them anyways!
If you reviewed the Medication List, Problem List, and Allergies, then that (and only that) should be included in today's medical history. None of the other stuff. You still get credit for the History and it is now true and much more concise.
I've used lots of exclamation points(!) in this discussion because I want you to understand how important it is. When you copy forward the old extensive history, in essence you are lying (committing fraud) about a medical procedure (history) that you did not perform and wasn't needed anyways! That is the definition of fraud!!!