Physicians who report quality data to Medicare will receive bonus payments of 1.5% starting in July, under a provision of the omnibus legislation passed at the end of the 109th Congress.
Under the provision, bonus payments would be linked to participation in the Physician Voluntary Reporting Program administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The program, which allows physicians to submit quality data to CMS and receive feedback on their performance, was launched in 2006.
In 2007, CMS officials have expanded the number of quality measures included in the program from 16 to 45. CMS also released an additional set of 21 measures that it plans to introduce later in the year. Bonus payments will apply to services delivered from July 1 through Dec. 31, 2007. Under the legislation, CMS must post any changes to the quality measures by no later than April 1.
More details on the program will be forthcoming from CMS, hopefully in January, according to a CMS spokesperson. For now, Congress has set up some parameters for reporting to the voluntary program. For example, if there are three or fewer measures that are applicable to a physician's practice, participating physicians must report on each relevant quality measure. If four or more quality measures are applicable, participating physicians must report on at least three measures.
CMS is required to publish a set of proposed quality measures for 2008 no later than Aug. 15 with a final set of measures to be published by Nov. 15. Congress also has instructed the secretary of Health and Human Services to address a mechanism for physicians to submit data through a medical registry system, such as the Society of Thoracic Surgeons National Database, in 2008.
Officials at the American Medical Association plan to work with CMS on the implementation of the quality reporting program. The AMA noted that it will work to ensure that the quality measures developed by its Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement continue to be the foundation of Medicare's reporting program.
“We will work closely with the incoming Congress to address concerns with the current reporting framework,” said Dr. Cecil Wilson, AMA board chair, in a statement.
Officials at the American College of Physicians voiced concerns about the program.
Dr. Michael S. Barr, vice president of practice, advocacy, and improvement at the ACP, said that not all of the 45 measure being rolled out in January have been endorsed by either the National Quality Forum or the AQA alliance, originally known as the Ambulatory Care Quality Alliance. Although some measures are going through the process, they could still be rejected.
“We're concerned about going too fast,” he said.
ACP officials also would like to hear more from CMS about the results of the first year of the program, including blinded quality data. “We would love to see information from CMS about what happened in 2006,” he said.
For more information about the program, visit www.cms.hhs.gov/PVRP