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New reporting options make it easy for physicians to participate in Medicare's 2008 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI), and TMA-endorsed vendor DocSite offers TMA members a simple, free way to satisfy the requirements and qualify for incentive payments.
PQRI is a voluntary, no-risk quality reporting program open to Medicare physicians in all specialties. Physicians who complete the program satisfactorily can earn a bonus payment of 1.5 percent of total allowed charges for covered Medicare services in 2008 and 2 percent in 2009. Typical practices will earn up to $4,000, making PQRI a great way to become acquainted with quality reporting and be compensated for your time.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced alternative reporting methods for the 2008 PQRI, including one that bypasses the need for administrative G-code and CPT-II code use. Instead, Medicare makes incentive payments based on clinical data you can report without altering your current charge capture workflow.
DocSite is one of 32 registries CMS has approved to transmit clinical data to Medicare for payment. TMA has vetted this company and arranged for Texas physicians to register, track patient PQRI data, and submit the data to CMS for free through DocSite PQRI™.
Physicians have until Dec. 31, 2008, to collect data for payment in the PQRI 2008 bonus program. Participating physicians must document care measures (typically three to nine questions per patient) for 30 consecutive patients with one of the four noted conditions (prevention, diabetes mellitus, end-stage renal disease, or chronic kidney disease) and then submit the completed data electronically to DocSite. Upon verification, DocSite will submit to CMS for payment. DocSite PQRI works equally well in practices with or without an electronic medical record system, and most physicians can complete their requirement within two days. CMS will issue 2008 incentive payments in the spring 2009.
Read a quick overview of how the DocSite registry works, then register free at www.DocSite.com/PQRI to begin tracking patients. Please note: Physicians can only use the TMA coupon code one time. If they submitted 2008 data, they must pay $350 to submit through DocSite for 2009.
Action, Sept. 15, 2008
Last Published: 2/27/2009 Print this page
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