CMS issues PowerPoint on Quality Reporting Initiative

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that a PowerPoint Presentation on the 2007 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) is now available. Quality of care - of the lack thereof - is becoming the focus of reform efforts for the healthcare industry (pay no attention to what is coming out of the White House). Claims will all involve reporting of quality indicators in the next few years. With the Medicare demonstration, there is an opportunity to try this out in a safe setting, and get a small boost in reimbursement (I'll take 1.5% - thank you very much!) The CMS press release continues: On December 20, 2006, President Bush signed the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 (TRHCA). TRHCA Section 101 authorizes a financial incentive for eligible professionals to participate in a voluntary quality reporting program. Eligible professionals, who chose to participate and successfully report on a designated set of quality measures for services paid under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and provided between July 1 and December 31, 2007, may earn a bonus payment of 1.5% of their charges during that period, subject to a cap. CMS has titled the statutory program the 2007 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI). To access the PowerPoint Presentation, visit http://www.cms.hhs.gov/PQRI on the CMS website and click on the Educational Resources tab. It looks like a pretty good introduction to this program. The website itself has a good deal of information and resources if you want to delve more deeply into the project.