Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012
This Week's News
Policy debate, special events to highlight next month's AMA Interim Meeting
AMA files brief in case defending medical staff self-governance
Visa waiver program for international medical graduates extended to 2015
CMS issues quality and ePrescribing incentives, reports for 2011
This Week's News
CMS issues quality and ePrescribing incentives, reports for 2011
Incentive payments and feedback reports are on their way to physicians who met requirements for the Medicare quality reporting and ePrescribing programs last year.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Sept. 25 that it had begun distributing incentive payments for the Medicare ePrescribing program and would start sending payments for the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) program Oct. 1. The agency also began distributing feedback reports for both programs last week.
Incentive payments should be 1 percent of allowed charges for covered services the physician performed during the reporting period. Those who met the additional maintenance-of-certification requirements under the PQRS program will receive a separate payment of 0.5 percent.
Feedback reports, manuals for interpreting the report data and guides for understanding incentive payments are available through CMS's Quality Net portal.
Physicians also can participate in a National Provider Call at 1:30 to 3 p.m. Eastern time Oct. 23 to learn more about the ePrescribing and PQRS program payments and reports. The call will include a question-and-answer session.
Visit the AMA's PQRS and ePrescribing Web pages to learn more about satisfying the 2012 program requirements and avoiding financial penalties.
