One-stop shopping Medicare quality reporting programs

One of the downsides to participating in multiple Medicare quality reporting programs, such as the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) or Meaningful Use, is that you often have had to report the same data separately for each.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has heard your woes, however, and created a new interactive tool that will help you submit your quality data one time only and earn credit for multiple programs.

The “Reporting Once for 2014 Medicare Quality Reporting Programs” tool provides guidance based on how you plan to participate in PQRS in 2014:

•    As an individual eligible professional
•    As part of a group practice
•    As part of a Medicare Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organization (ACO)
•    As part of a Pioneer ACO

Using the interactive tool, you will learn whether you will be eligible for PQRS incentives in 2014, will avoid PQRS Medicare penalties in 2016, and can satisfy the clinical quality measure component of the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program. If you are part of a group practice with 10 or more eligible professionals, the tool will also help you assess the impact of your participation in PQRS on the Value-Based Payment Modifier.

You can use these streamlining options only if you have participated in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program for more than a year, and you are still required to report your core and menu objectives through the CMS Registration & Attestation System.

To use the interactive tool, simply click on the green “Start” button on page two of the tool. You can also use the “How to Report Once for 2014 Medicare Quality Reporting Programs” fact sheet  for an overview of the quality programs and reporting once in 2014.

For step-by step instructions for 2014 PQRS participation, view the PQRS How to Get Started web page on the CMS web site. If you have additional questions, contact the QualityNet Help Desk at 866-288-8912 or via qnetsupport@hcqis.org. The Help Desk is available Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. (Central Time).

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