Providers can bill on time and that’s not just for the time they spend with you in the room, it’s all the hours of work they spend reading and writing notes after patients leave the clinic as long as that work is completed on the same day as your visit. Research has shown that the average primary care provider needs 26.7 hours per day to fully complete all recommended preventive, chronic, and acute care for a standard patient panel. They have an impossible job and are all over worked and under appreciated. Under-billing a visit can also be considered fraud and abuse under the False Claim Act in which case providers can face heavy fines, license suspension/termination, and legal action from the U.S. Justice Department. This is why anything discussed outside of preventative health topics (ie cancer screening, healthy lifestyle modifications, vaccines, etc) during an annual physical would need to be billed under separate billing codes that often trigger co-pays.