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 nearly three times the $36 million paid out in 2007, CMS 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.
“[T]he substantial growth in the national total for PQRI incentive payments demonstrates that Medicare can align payment with quality incentives,” acting CMS administrator Charlene Frizerra said in a statement.
Under Medicare's PQRI program, providers receive incentive payments for reporting data on quality measures. The incentive payments currently 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.
To make participation easier, the CMS expanded the number of measures providers could report on, from 74 in 2007 to 119 in 2008. The measures—almost all of which deal with clinical performance—were developed in cooperation with physician and health care quality organizations. The CMS also added two measures that focus on the use of electronic health records and electronic prescribing technology.
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 management of diabetes, kidney disease, and preventive medicine. Nearly 8% of the PQRI participants in 2008 attempted to use a registry to submit data; of these, nearly 96% were successful and received an incentive payment.