Are you participating in PQRS?
PQRS is the Physician Quality Reporting System implemented by Medicare. This has existed for several years as a voluntary program that offered an incentive to participate.
For 2013, there is still an incentive to participate, but Medicare has now imposed a penalty if you do not participate
If a physician successfully participates in PQRS in 2013:
- They receive an incentive of .5% of the Medicare allow of their professional charges performed in 2013.
- To successfully report, they have to report at least three measures on at least 50% of their Medicare patients.
- This same incentive will be offered for successful reporting in 2014.
If a provider does not participate in 2013:
- A 1.5% reduction in their Medicare payments will occur on each service billed in 2015.
If they don’t participate in 2014, there will be a 2% reduction in their Medicare payments for each service billed in 2016
Providers should pick at least three measures to report on this year to avoid the penalty. Reporting can be done via claims, registry, or EHR. More information can be found at www.cms.gov.
Contact Karen Schnell, CPC at (812) 491-1491 with questions.
