Eligible professional or group practices must satisfactorily report or satisfactorily participate submitting data on PQRS quality measures in 2014 to avoid the 2% payment adjustment will will be applied in 2016.
The payment adjustment applies to covered professional services furnished by an eligible professional or group practice during 2016.
Also, an additional 2% penalty will be applied to group practices of 10+ eligible professionals under the value-based payment modifier. This is again based on the 2014 PQRS reporting performance.
How to Avoid the 2016 PQRS Payment Adjustments
For Individual Eligible Professionals
One of the following criteria must be met by eligible professionals during the 2014 PQRS program year:
- Meet the requirements to satisfactorily report or satisfactorily participate for incentive eligibility as defined in the 2014 PQRS measure specifications (same criteria as 2014 PQRS incentive eligibility)
- Report at least 3 measures covering one NQS domain for at least 50 percent of the eligible professional’s Medicare Part B FFS patients via claims or qualified registry
- An eligible professional that reports fewer than 3 measures covering at least 1 NQS domain via claims or qualified registry- reporting will be subject to the Measure-Applicability Validation (MAV) process, which will allow CMS to determine whether additional measures domains should have been reported.
- Participate via a qualified clinical data registry (QCDR) that selects measures for the eligible professional, of which at least 3 measures covering a minimum of 1 NQS domain AND submits measures for at least 50% of applicable patients seen during the participation period to which the measure applies
For Group Practices
Group practices participating in the Group Practice Reporting Option (GPRO) can avoid 2016 payment adjustments by meeting one of the following criteria during the 2014 PQRS program year:
- Meet the requirements for satisfactorily reporting for incentive eligibility as defined in the applicable 2014 PQRS measure specifications
- Report at least 3 measures covering one NQS domain for at least 50 percent of the group practice’s Medicare Part B FFS patients via qualified registry
- Report 1-8 measures covering 1-3 NQS domains for which there is Medicare patient data (subjecting the group practice to the MAV process*), AND report each measure for at least 50% of the group practice’s Medicare Part B FFS patients seen during the reporting period to which the measure applies.
*A group practice who reports fewer than 3 measures covering 1 NQS domain via the registry-based reporting mechanism will be subject to the MAV process, which would allow CMS to determine whether a group practice should have reported on additional measures.
Resources:
http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/PQRS/Payment-Adjustment-Information.html
2014 Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS): 2016 PQRS Payment Adjustment