CMS reports results of 2008 Medicare Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI)
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced the results for the 2008 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI). More than 85,000 physicians and other eligible professionals who satisfactorily reported quality-related data to Medicare under the 2008 PQRI received incentive payments totaling more than $92 million, compared to $36 million in 2007.
Providers can access their confidential feedback reports at the Tax Identification Number (TIN) level by visiting the secure PQRI portal at http://www.qualitynet.org/pqri. Trained Help Desk staff will assist providers with accessing their feedback reports at 1-866-288-8912 or at Qnetsupport@sdps.org. Support is available on Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Central Time. In addition, individual professionals can access their feedback reports by contacting their Part A/Part B MAC at its Provider Contact Center.
2009 PQRI Update: Clarification on Anesthesiologists’ Reporting of Measures 128 and 130
In addition to Measures 30 and 76, anesthesiologists may now report on Measures 128 (BMI) and 130 (Documentation & Verification of Current Medications in the Medical Record), both of which contain anesthesia codes. All four measures are excluded from the Measure-Applicability Validation Process; thus, if you satisfactorily report on any or all of these measures you are eligible to receive an incentive. However, there is no requirement to report on all the measures. If, however, you do choose to report on these additional measures, ASA would like to remind you that you must meet the 80% threshold on every measure you report to qualify for the PQRI incentive payment. For example, if you report on Measure 30 90% of the time and Measure 128 50% of the time you will not qualify for the incentive bonus because you did not reach the 80% threshold on the second measure, regardless of your performance on the first measure. ASA encourages members to participate in the PQRI program but wants to ensure members understand the requirements of reporting on multiple measures.
