2010-05-27

Congress Scales Back Physician Payment Plan; Passage Needed Before June 1 to Avert Cuts
Despite reaching agreement last week on a proposal that would have provided a four-year physician payment fix, House lawmakers have scaled-down a physician payment adjustment proposal to respond to concerns about the cost of the overall legislation. The new House compromise would extend relief from a physician payment decrease through 2011 rather than 2013. Read more.

PQRI Reporting Period Begins July 1, 2010 – ASH Encourages Participation
The Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) provides a financial incentive for eligible professionals to participate in a voluntary quality reporting program. Eligible professionals who successfully report a designated set of quality measures may earn a bonus payment, subject to a cap, of 2.0 percent of total allowed charges for covered Medicare physician fee schedule services. Read more.

CMS Provides PQRI 2008 Incentive Payment Adjustments
The 2008 PQRI program entitled eligible providers who satisfactorily reported PQRI measures an incentive payment of 1.5 percent of estimated total physician fee schedule (PFS) charges. Some participants in the 2008 program noted discrepancies between the estimated PFS allowed charges as reported in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) feedback reports and the participant's data. As a result, CMS has been reviewing the data for specific providers upon request and has been providing increased incentive payments where appropriate. Read more.

Medicare Program Adjusts Payments for 2010
On May 10, Medicare contractors received new files that address corrections in the final 2010 physician fee schedule rule, as well as implementation of several provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act enacted earlier this year. All the changes are retroactive to January 1, and all contractors must implement them by May 31. Read more.

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