• Medicare offers two-for-one deal, of sorts

    Are you an eligible professional trying to earn a 2013 incentive payment through Medicare’s Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS)? Do you also hope to achieve an electronic health record (EHR) incentive from Medicare? If so, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is offering you the chance to do both through its PQRS Medicare EHR Incentive Pilot.

    The pilot program allows eligible professionals to meet the clinical quality measure (CQM) reporting requirement for the EHR program through electronic submission while also reporting for the PQRS program.

    If you would like to participate in the pilot you must submit 12 months of CQM data by 11:59 p.m. (EST) on February 28, 2014, by taking the following steps:

    1.    Register for an Individuals Authorized Access to the CMS Computer Services (IACS) account (for EHR submission only), if you do not have one already.
    2.    Indicate in EHR Registration & Attestation System your intent to report CQMs using the pilot.
    3.    Generate required reporting files.
    4.    Test data submission.
    5.    Submit quality data.

    If you cannot submit your CQM data for 12 months electronically through PQRS, you must return to the EHR Attestation System and deselect the electronic reporting option. Please note: if you do not submit your 2013 quality data or deselect the electronic reporting option in the EHR Attestation System, you will not receive an EHR incentive payment.

    For further guidance on the 2013 PQRS-Medicare EHR Incentive Pilot, please read the participation guide and quick-reference guide. If you have questions, please contact the QualityNet Help Desk at 1-866-288-8912 or via gnetsupport@sdps.org. The Help Desk is available Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. (CST).

    – Kent Moore, Senior Strategist for Physician Payment for the American Academy of Family Physicians

    Posted on Jan 28, 2014 by David Twiddy


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