Deadline extended for certain PQRS reporting

If you are reporting to the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) using the Electronic Health Record (EHR) method, you now have a little more time to submit your data. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that it was extending the Feb. 28 deadline for PQRS submission through the EHR or qualified clinical data registry (QCDR) mechanisms.

Eligible professionals (EPs) and groups have until March 31 to submit their 2016 quality reporting document architecture (QRDA) I or III files for the EHR Direct, EHR Data Submission Vendor (DSV), and QCDR reporting mechanisms. Qualified registries and QCDRs that use XML files also have until March 31 to submit. Vendors may have their own individual deadlines that may be earlier. EPs should work directly with their vendors to ensure their data is submitted before the deadline.

EPs who fail to satisfactorily report to PQRS for 2016 will receive the maximum negative payment adjustment in 2018. EPs failing to report will also face the maximum negative payment adjustment for their group size under the Value-Based Payment Modifier Program (VBPM). Payment adjustments for the PQRS and VBPM are separate from those for the Medicare Electronic Health Record Incentive Program (a.k.a “meaningful use”). EPs have until March 13 to submit their meaningful use data. EPs can submit CQMs using the PQRS EHR reporting method or QCDR QRDA III files to fulfill the CQM requirements for both meaningful use and PQRS. EPs can contact the QualityNet Help Desk for questions about PQRS and the EHR Information Center Help Desk (1-888-734-6433, option 1) for questions relating to meaningful use.

The final year for which EPs are required to submit data for PQRS, VBPM, and meaningful use is 2016. The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015 consolidates these programs into the Quality Payment Program (QPP). The first performance period for the QPP began on Jan. 1. Physicians can learn more about the QPP on the AAFP website or in the latest issue of FPM.

– Erin Solis, Regulatory Compliance Strategist at the American Academy of Family Physicians