Physicians and other health professionals participating in Medicare's Physician Quality Reporting Initiative received a total of $92 million in incentive payments under the program in 2008, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced.
That figure is about three times the $36 million paid out in 2007, the agency noted. The number of medical professionals receiving payments also increased during the same period, from 57,000 to 85,000.
The average payment in 2008 was more than $1,000, with the largest single payment at $98,000. During 2007, the reporting period lasted only 6 months for all participants, while in 2008 participants could report for a 6- or 12-month period.
“We are very pleased with the results for 2008,” acting CMS administrator Charlene Frizerra said in a statement. “More health professionals have successfully reported data, and the substantial growth in the national total for PQRI incentive payments demonstrates that Medicare can align payment with quality incentives.”
Under PQRI, providers receive incentive payments for reporting data on quality measures. The payments amount to 1.5% of each provider's total estimated allowed charges under Medicare Part B. Although more than 153,000 health professionals participated in the program during 2008, only 85,000 met the requirements for satisfactory reporting and therefore received incentive payments.
The CMS expanded the number of measures providers could report on, from 74 in 2007 to 119 in 2008. The measures were developed in cooperation with physician and health care quality organizations.
Providers also had the option in 2008 of reporting to the CMS through use of one of the 31 qualified medical registries. Many providers already were using registries to report data to researchers dealing with disease management and preventive medicine. Nearly 8% of the PQRI participants in 2008 attempted to use a registry to submit data; of these, 96% were successful and received an incentive payment.