CMS, AAFP To Host July 1 Conference Call on 2008 PQRI

If you've assumed it's too late to participate in CMS' 2008 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative, or PQRI, mark your calendar for 2-3:30 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, July 1. That's when AAFP and CMS will co-host a special toll-free conference call about family physicians participating in the 2008 PQRI.

The call will focus on simple steps FPs can take to collect and report quality data to qualify for an incentive payment from CMS. The call will begin with comments by Michael Rapp, M.D., director of CMS' Quality Measurement and Health Assessment Group. Rapp's comments will be followed by a presentation by Bruce Bagley, M.D., AAFP's medical director of quality improvement, and Michael O'Dell, M.D., M.S.H.A., of Tupelo, Miss., a member of the AAFP Commission on Quality. Callers will be able to ask questions of Bagley, O'Dell and CMS representatives after that presentation.

Registration is not needed; just call (800) 837-1935 beginning at 1:30 p.m. EDT July 1 to participate in the call. When prompted, enter conference ID 53531104. TTY communications relay services will be available for the hearing impaired. For TTY services, dial 7-1-1 or (800) 855-2880; information about Internet relay services is available online.

Slides of the Bagley/O'Dell presentation now are available for downloading from the CMS Web site (choose "Archived: Special PQRI Open Door Forum 07/01/2008" under "Downloads"; the slides are available in either a PowerPoint or PDF format) if you wish to print them and follow along during the presentation. Beginning July 8, an audiorecording of the conference call will be archived online for those who are unable to participate July 1.