Jon & Steven,
I believe that the PQRI (1%), eRx (1%) and EHR/Meaningful Use ($18,000) are 3 separate Medicare initiatives. The 2011 PQRI program has 190 "Physician Quality Reporting System Measures". For PQRS, there are individual measures and measure groups. Using a measure group may be easier. If reporting individual measures you must report on at least 3 measures, and report on at least 50% of applicable Medicare patients. If reporting a Measures Group for 12 months, you need to report on at least 30 applicable patients. In 2011, you cannot receive incentives for both eRx and EHR, but you can receive incentives for both eRx and PQRS. Here is the PQRI
summary page. I put my office manager on finding out how to qualify; it took her about 3 hours and 2 phone calls to CMS.
There is also an additional bonus payment of 0.5 percent per year available for those who participate in a maintenance of certification (MOC) program required for board certification by a recognized physician specialty organization for at least one year, and complete an MOC practice assessment.
And just to make things more interesting, PQRI penalties will begin in 2015 for those who do not satisfactorily submit quality data by that time, as well as eRx penalties beginning in 2014 for those who aren't using eRx by 2012.
I shot off an email to CMS Director Dr. Don Berwick (
dberwick@ihi.org) to complain about this mess, but no reply yet. I suggest you let him know what you think of his agency's quality initiatives, since he fancies himself a quality of care guru.
