1-11-08
2008 Medicare Physician Quality Reporting Initiative Update
The Medicare Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI), establishes a financial incentive for eligible professionals, including occupational therapists, to participate in a voluntary quality reporting program. OTs who successfully report on at least 3 quality measures on claims for dates of service from January 1 to December 31, 2008, may earn a bonus payment of 1.5% of total allowed charges for covered Medicare Physician Fee Schedule services. CMS has clarified that the 2008 bonus available for eligible professionals will be paid from the Medicare Part B Trust Fund—as was done for the 2007 PQRI.
OTs in private practice are eligible to report on the following quality measures under the 2008 PQRI Program:
- Screening for Future Fall Risk
- Documentation of Current Medications in the Medical Record
- Patient Co-Development of Plan of Care
- Pain Assessment Prior to Initiation of Patient Treatment
- Universal Weight Screening (BMI)
- Screening for Clinical Depression
- Screening for Cognitive Impairment
- Adoption of Health Information Technology
CMS has made available the attached 2008 PQRI documents for distribution:
1) 2008 PQRI Coding for Quality Handbook—each measure provides coding and reporting principles and describes successful reporting
2) 2008 Measure Specifications Release Notes —describes recent changes to measure specifications due to recent technical corrections on PQRI measure specifications posted in November on the CMS PQRI Web site
3) Additionally, CMS, through a partnership with the American Medical Association (AMA), has developed 2008 PQRI Data Collection Worksheets for each 2008 PQRI measure. These worksheets provide a step-by-step description on how to document and code each PQRI measure. The worksheets are available on the AMA Web site at: http://www.ama-assn.org/go/toolsmedicarepqri
AOTA will continue to advocate to CMS to allow OTs in private practice to report on additional quality measures under PQRI. Continue to watch the AOTA Web site for updates. To learn more about the PQRI initiative and AOTA’s advocacy and participation, see the OT Practice November 27, 2007 Capital Briefing article “Medicare Links Quality to Payment.” http://www.aota.org/Pubs/OTP/Columns/CapitalBriefing/2007/cb-112607.aspx
You will also find additional resources on the 2008 PQRI page of the CMS Web site: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/PQRI/35_2008PQRIInformation.asp#TopOfPage
