The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced the results for the 2008 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI). 

More than 85,000 physicians and other eligible professionals who satisfactorily reported quality-related data to Medicare under the 2008 PQRI received incentive payments totaling more than $92 million, compared to $36 million in 2007. In 2007, eligible professionals could only participate in the program during a 6-month reporting period.  In 2008, the program expanded to allow reporting for either a 6-month or a 12-month period.

Established in late 2006 by the Tax Relief and Health Care Act, the PQRI is a voluntary program that allows physicians and other eligible healthcare professionals to receive incentive payments for reporting data on quality measures related to services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries.  In the initial program years, physicians and other eligible professionals who satisfactorily submitted quality information for covered professional services furnished in the applicable reporting period were are able to receive incentive payments of 1.5 percent of the total estimated allowed charges under Medicare Part B for covered professional services.

More than 162,800 professionals participated in the 2008 PQRI.  Of those, over 85,000 physicians and other eligible professionals met statutory requirements for satisfactory reporting for the 2008 reporting period and are receiving incentive payments. 

From the 2007 to the 2008 PQRI program year, CMS added several new features to make it easier for healthcare professionals to participate, including expanding the number of measures from 74 in 2007 to 119 in 2008.  Leading physician organizations and health care quality organizations participated in developing these measures.  Nearly all of the measures are clinical performance measures, such as the percentage of patients who received necessary mammograms and cancer screenings. In 2008, CMS also added two structural measures that focus on the use of electronic health records and electronic prescribing technology. 

CMS added 52 new quality measures for the 2009 PQRI year, raising the total number of measures to 153.  These new measures cover all types of healthcare professionals who provide services to Medicare beneficiaries, and address areas such as osteoarthritis, back pain, coronary artery disease, and HIV/AIDS, as well as 18 measures that must reported exclusively through PQRI-qualified registries.