Starting July 1, physicians who report on selected quality measures will have a chance to earn a small bonus payment from Medicare.
The program, called the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative, was mandated by Congress and offers incentive payments to physicians who report on one to three quality measures. By doing so, physicians can earn a bonus of up to 1.5% of their total allowed Medicare charges during the 6-month reporting period.
Although even the maximum compensation isn't enough to make anyone rich, some physician organizations are advising their members to take a good look at the program because it may be the first step toward a performance-based payment system.
“This experience will likely be helpful in the future,” said Brett Baker, director of regulatory affairs at the American College of Physicians, adding that although the bonus payment is not significant, having some type of financial incentive attached may be enough to get people's attention.
To get started, physicians must familiarize themselves with the program and the measures and figure out for how many patients they will be able to gather and report data, Mr. Baker said.
They also should consider the technical issues involved in reporting and how feasible it will be to make those changes. “It's certainly a challenge for everyone to ramp up to do this in a short period of time,” he said.
Officials of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have selected 74 quality measures that can be used by physicians across specialties. If 4 or more measures apply, physicians must report on at least 3 measures for at least 80% of cases in which the measure was reportable.
If no more than three measures apply, each measure must be reported for at least 80% of the cases in which a measure was reportable.
Although payments will be provided to the holder of the tax identification number, the results will be analyzed at the physician level, the CMS said. As a result, Medicare officials are requiring that the National Provider Identifier number be used on all claims.
The reporting period will run from July 1 through Dec. 31, 2007, and all claims must reach the National Claims History File by Feb. 29, 2008.
Any Medicare-enrolled eligible professional can participate in the program, regardless of whether they have signed a participation agreement with Medicare to accept assignment on all claims. In addition, physicians are not required to register to participate in the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative.
Medicare will use a claims-based reporting system for the program and will require practices to enter either CPT Category II codes or temporary G-codes where CPT-II codes are not available. The codes can be reported on either paper-based CMS 1500 forms or electronic 837-P claims. The quality codes should be reported with a $0.00 charge.
The bonus payments earned will be made in a lump sum in mid-2008, CMS officials said. Physicians can earn up to a 1.5% bonus, subject to a cap. The cap is structured to ensure that physicians who do more reporting will receive higher payments.
Under the law that established the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative, the program is excluded from a formal appeals process. However, CMS officials said they plan to establish some type of informal inquiry process. In addition, they are currently developing a validation procedure for the reporting process that is likely to involve sampling.
In addition to the bonus payment, physicians who participate will receive a confidential feedback report from the CMS sometime in 2008. Those reports are expected to include reporting and performance rates. However, the quality data reported in 2007 will not be publicly reported.
For 2008, the CMS is required under statute to propose the new measures in August 2007 and finalize them by Nov. 15, 2007. Next year's measures are likely to include structural measures, such as the use of electronic health records or electronic prescribing technology.
CMS officials are also working on the possibility of allowing physicians to report using either registry-based systems or electronic records systems in 2008.
Of the 74 measures released by the CMS, 21 apply to family medicine, said Dr. Rick Kellerman, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. In an effort to make the process more user friendly, AAFP officials are strongly urging family physicians to report on the three diabetes measures available. This will make it easier for physicians to report because they can concentrate on a single diagnosis, Dr. Kellerman said.
The AAFP is developing a data collection sheet for physicians and another for the back office staff, he said. The academy also is developing tools to help physicians calculate their potential bonus payment under the program.