Acting now to avoid a PQRS payment adjustment in 2016

While 2016 is more than a year and a half away, what you do in 2014 will determine whether or not you are subject to a Medicare payment adjustment under the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) in 2016. In essence, you must satisfactorily report data on quality measures during 2014 to avoid the 2016 payment adjustment.

You can avoid the 2016 payment adjustment by meeting one of the following criteria during the one-year 2014 reporting period (Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2014):

• If participating as an individual eligible professional: Meet the criteria for satisfactory reporting adopted for the 2014 PQRS incentive. Or, participate in PQRS via qualified clinical data registry, qualified registry, or claims reporting and report at least three measures covering one National Quality Strategy (NQS) domain for at least 50 percent of your Medicare Part B fee-for-service (FFS) patients.

• If participating as a group practice: Meet the Group Practice Reporting Option requirements for satisfactory reporting. Or, participate in PQRS via qualified registry reporting and report at least three measures covering one NQS domain for at least 50 percent of your group practice’s Medicare Part B FFS patients.

More information is available via the PQRS web page on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' website. You may especially want to look at their new fact sheet for guidance on how to avoid the 2016 PQRS payment adjustment. You can also contact the QualityNet Help Desk 7 a.m.-7 p.m. (Central Time), Monday through Friday, by calling 866-288-8912 (TTY: 877-715-6222) or by sending an email to qnetsupport@hcqis.org.

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